Chance
by Leiko Skyline
Summary: When fighting Team Galactic goes terribly wrong, Evelyn takes the chance to start over. But things aren't the way she remembers them, and different can turn deadly.
1. Prologue

**Hey, and welcome to this "new" story that I've been working on for about 3.5 years (but didn't publish til later). It's full of battles in varying degrees of violence, original and canon-ish characters (altered a little), the effects of time travel, several love stories of different kinds, random moments of hilarity, and the story of a trainer's second chance. And many other things which I can't begin to describe off the top of my head. Hope you enjoy it!**

 **Without further ado,**

 **Chance**

* * *

 _Prologue_

Liana's shoulders heaved up and down. Cuts laced her body, black fur long since congealed with blood. "Thunderbolt!" I yelled, voice hoarse from the eleven other pokemon my team had battled already.

"Body slam," Mars ordered.

My luxray gathered electricity in her fur, but before she could manage anything more, the purugly smashed his body into her. A crack. A yowl. Silence.

"Activate the Red Chain," Mars commanded, turning back towards the heart of Spear Pillar. Her tone was slow, unexcited, like battling me had not worried her to begin with.

I returned Liana to her pokeball. A pair of grunts wrestled it and five other pokeballs from me. My expression (or lack thereof) didn't change as I sank to my knees. It hadn't changed for weeks, really… not since…

I bit my lip, trying to squash down the memory that was surfacing once again. Jupiter, who'd lost the last of her pokemon several minutes ago, handed her pokeballs to a grunt for healing.

"Man, after all she's done, I'm so glad to finally win," Jupiter sighed.

Mars and Jupiter didn't understand "fair." They'd teamed up on me for a twelve on six battle the instant I arrived at Spear Pillar. It could have been twelve on eighteen. If Jupiter hadn't shoved Dawn off the cliff at Lake Acuity, Dawn wouldn't have been in the hospital with a broken leg, and could've fought too. And if Saturn hadn't…

 _Shit._

The memory sliced through me, razor-sharp. His face fearful, straining, screaming silently. Snap.

I forced down the welling in my chest. There was nothing left… Team Galactic would win – Cyrus was opening a portal to a new world right then – my pokemon would be taken away – the world itself would be destroyed – And he was gone. Long gone.

Except…

My fingers brushed the poketch on my wrist. There was one way out. Looker had given it to me.

"Lyn, I trust you," he said seriously, "but if anything happens, use this app."

"What's it do?" I asked. This was long after what happened at Lake Valor; my voice had become listless.

"You hold down a sequence of keys – It's specific, you need to hold down the first two when you press the last – And then…"

"Yes?" I prompted him.

"Time turns back. You find yourself in Twinleaf Town on the day you received your pokemon. I set it to that day, specifically."

He rattled off a few reasons why day one, square one was ideal. I was so tempted to use it right then. But I knew better than to be selfish with so much at stake.

"It's single-use," Looker warned me. "Use wisely."

The fingers of my right hand shuffled silently to the app… There it was. An array of digital buttons across the screen. It didn't take me long to locate the right ones for the sequence.

 _Up._

"Hey, what're you doing, trying to call for help?" Mars barked.

 _Select._

"Get your hands away from that device," Jupiter snapped, striding towards me.

 _B._

A flash. Excruciatingly bright light, and then darkness. Suddenly nowhere, zooming toward somewhere, sometime. I was getting a second chance.

Maybe this time Lucas would live.

* * *

 **One last disclaimer: the writing style changes a lot from the beginning to the most recent parts (I mean it has been several years). I think it's for the better ;)**

 **Also Liana ≠ the Liana you know if it wasn't obvious already.**

 **Ok carry on~**


	2. Alive

**(7/16/17 edit: Starting from this chapter, I have reference pages available on my profile. They're basically there in case you forget who's who on the pokemon teams.)**

* * *

Sharp starly jabbers penetrated my room. We had a flock living in our roof, and since I was the deepest sleeper in the family, I got the room right beneath their nest.

Not to say that I was asleep. I was as awake as I'd been before time traveling.

 _This is unreal_ , I thought, staring up at the ceiling. _Hello, September._

Sitting up, I found myself in a dirty, stinking black tee and similarly ratty shorts. It took a few days to climb Mount Coronet, at least through the cave system, therefore showers… no. My poketch was on my wrist still, with all its battle scars – a dent in the side from falling off the bike route, three slits in the band from the day I met Jirra. I found worn-out sneakers on my feet, under the covers. Yuck.

A sudden shock of realization. _Lucas. He's alive._

I'd have been out the door in ten seconds if – whoops – I hadn't remembered what I was wearing. Time to clean up.

I don't think I've ever taken a faster yet more thorough shower, even with all the scrapes and dirt from traversing Mount Coronet. As I came back to my room, drying my hair with a towel, I glimpsed something near my bedroom door.

Shoes.

They were the same sneakers I'd worn throughout my journey, except cleaner and newer. I looked around for everything else – my t-shirt and shorts were stacked in the closet, my backpack hung on the doorknob, my jacket… I'd get my jacket today, actually. The one with so many pockets, I could hold six pokeballs, emergency meds, my trainer ID, money, whatever I needed easy access to. Mom gave it to me. I wasn't wearing it now because… why was it… Oh yeah. I gave it to Dawn at Lake Acuity. Figured she needed it, with her broken leg and all.

My poketch, bright and shiny new, was by my bed. Was it worth taking as a replacement…? Flipping through the apps on my older version, I found it still in good shape after the time jump. I'd probably just keep this one, old and beat up as it was…

My fingers stopped flipping though the apps – I'd landed on the one from Looker. A message replaced the buttons on the screen.

 _Good luck, Lyn. See you soon._

I smiled – a bit – for the first time in a month. Only Looker called me Lyn.

Stashing my old, dirty clothes and shoes in a trash bag and strapping the device to my wrist, I went back out to find my hairbrush… and ran into Mom.

Mom was halfway through her forties – "halfway to being old," she liked to say. Her face hinted at more wrinkles to come and silvery white hairs were scattered through black wavy ones, but otherwise she seemed pretty young.

"Hey there, Medusa," she laughed, noticing my tangled hair.

I hadn't seen her since after Lake Valor, when she called to check on me.

"Hi Mom. Good morning." I threw my arms around her.

"Well then. Aren't you affectionate this morning." When I released her from my hug, she scrutinized me. "Arceus, I swear you've shot up overnight. I don't remember you being so tall."

Yeah, the extra months might have done that… "Well, I just woke up," I suggested. "Taller in the morning."

"Gah! You're just like your dad… How'd you get all scratched up?"

"Hm? Good question… I think my dream last night was pretty active."

"We should pad your walls," she joked. I made myself laugh. It was an effort, not because she wasn't funny, but because I hadn't made the sound in a while.

"Ready for today?" Mom asked me.

Today… today… "Oh, the ceremony," I realized. "Can I borrow a dress?"

"Sure thing. Come pick one when your hair is brushed."

Ten minutes later, my hair was brushed and I was wearing the sky blue dress I'd worn last year. This year. Today. Whatever. It fit better than I remembered – I guess I'd lost weight over the last few months.

Dad was out on a business trip. For the second time, he couldn't see me off. For the second time, he wouldn't meet Bree–

 _Uh._

I froze up and dashed back to my room. _Oh no, ohno, ohnonono._

Shorts pockets, backpack, shoes even? Not there, not there, not there… My pokemon were gone. Bree, Liana, Owen, Emmy, Quasar, and Jirra's pokeballs were nowhere.

 _The damned grunts took them – they're stuck in the old future_ , I realized. _I have to find my team again._

At least I knew where the first of them was.

* * *

Megan Talbot had saved Tricia and me seats in the amphitos (a combination of ampharos and amphitheater, because of the colored lights overhead. To our dismay, we found out a month after naming it that it was really an auditorium-slash-ballroom.). "Hey," I said, coming up from behind.

She looked up. "Hey." I took the seat beside her. I felt like I should say something, but I hadn't spoken to her in a month of my time.

I cut Megan and Tricia off after Lake Valor… after Lucas. I couldn't face them, didn't want to know what they would say anymore. Didn't want to face the inevitable sympathy. I only ever spoke about it with Looker, and he wasn't one to sympathize.

"Hello–"

Feedback screech. Yeowww…

The professor cleared his throat. "Hello, and welcome to the nineteenth annual Trainer Selection Ceremony…"

Panicking suddenly, I whispered, "Tricia's not here yet!"

"She'll be here soon," Megan whispered back, unconcerned. "It's Tricia. Of course she's late."

 _Right. Okay. But last year she wasn't late… Things won't be the same this time around, obviously. Wait, what if…?_

"… began under the recognition of the increasing injury, death and disappearance rates among ten-year-old trainers…"

 _Oh, wait, of course not._

"… selection program in which the top scientists, teachers, and leaders of a city or town select two teenagers, ages fourteen to eighteen, one girl and one boy…"

 _Yeah. The trainers are predetermined. They picked me and Dawn and Lucas before today. Before the time Looker set on my poketch._

"… not yet extended beyond Sinnoh, but the vast decrease in casualties among new trainers attributes to the success of the selection process…"

 _And of course Bree is up there… Awww, she's a piplup. That's adorable and weird. She's the first of six. It won't be easy finding Liana on route 202. Hm._

"… without further ado, our first trainer this year is Miss Dawn Berlitz."

A few disappointed swears preceded the applause. Tricia arrived at that point. I waved at her from five feet away. She waved back, grinning widely. No disappointment from her.

Dawn ascended the stage. She looked… younger than the last time I'd seen her. Still filled with life and smiles. Her leg was fine, thank Arceus.

The professor opened the case of pokeballs. I couldn't see from floor level, but inside the pokeballs were color-coordinated based on type. Quick ball for the chimchar. Nest ball for Rhea, Dawn's torte– uh, turtwig. Dive ball for Bree.

Dawn pulled one out and moved to the side of the stage. I could have sworn she was holding a…

No, it must have been green. It only looked blue cause of the amphitos lighting. Quit freaking out, Evelyn.

"Our second trainer is Lucas Tristan."

I _think_ he climbed the stage, and I _think_ there was applause involved, but I missed those because my head started spinning. Because I saw him.

 _Ohh._

He – this quiet little boy, childish at times, serious at others, who looked straight at you when you and him talked – he was alive and well and walking up to the stage with the nearly imperceptible spring in his step –

 _He's okay._

 _I–I'm going to save him this time._

 _I swear, I'm going to save him._

It was a few seconds before I realized the pokeball Lucas had chosen was not red.

So, regardless of whether he had taken the blue or green one – looked green from here, he'd taken Rhea? – neither he nor Dawn had taken red.

He took the chimchar last year.

How didn't I get Bree?

How could I _not?_

"…break tradition," the professor was saying. "You see, this year the scientists of Sinnoh have collectively made vast inroads in the area of the lake trio and related myths that may very well be true. New trainers typically assist us in research."

 _Oh, this._ _But, Bree…_

"Naturally, two assistants are not enough to investigate three lakes, at least not thoroughly and fairly. Which is why this year, I am pleased to introduce Twinleaf Town's third new trainer, Evelyn Meyers."

There was a buzzing in my head while my feet moved. It obscured the déjà vu that was so familiar and yet nearly the opposite of last time's joy. In retrospect, my face could have appeared shocked or disbelieving. Which was both a comfort, to know I wasn't giving myself away, and accurate, though the blunt disbelief was unrelated to hearing my name through the sound system.

Scratchy warmth moved my hand, followed by a cool smoothness. A pokeball. A pokemon. Not mine.

It was over in moments. The professor kept us three for a little to mention that he'd be calling on us for research, and to give us our preregistered Trainer Cards. Nothing I needed to hear again. Nothing I needed to do. But nod. And try not to seem too upset.

And get it together, Evelyn. You're stuck in your past already. Lucas is alive and Galactic hasn't destroyed the world and in exchange you've swapped one pokemon. How will you stop Galactic if you get stuck like this?

To be fair, this was the pokemon I'd been friends with longest. My conscience wasn't feeling fair.

"Guys, we made it–" Dawn hugged Lucas, giving my guts a slight pinch before she turned to me and hugged me too. Had she always been this friendly? I couldn't remember. Maybe it was the ecstasy of the moment.

"Congrats," I said to them both, grinning at Lucas over her shoulder. His eyes smiled back.

Nothing as beautiful as a dead boy healed.

"So, Sandgem?" I said when Dawn withdrew. "Let's get on the road."

"We gotta get ready first," Dawn pointed out.

"Ah. Right… race you guys there."

"What's the big hurry?"

Oh, nothing.

"Just for fun."

Dawn checked her watch. "Sandgem's not too far. I'll probably head out around twelve."

I looked at Lucas. He hadn't said much. He glanced over at me and shrugged.

"Okay, well, see you 'round," Dawn said, waving and jumping off the stage. We watched her merge with the lingering crowd and exit the main door.

"Hey, um, Lucas?"

His eyebrows moved up slightly. I'd come to understand it to be his listening face. It was why I'd fallen for him, so long ago.

It occurred to me that I didn't have anything to say.

"Um… don't forget to… you'll want to pick up… parlyz heals, cause of the shinxes between here and Sandgem."

I mentally started cussing myself out.

He gave me a funny look. "Yeah. Okay."

"I… Sorry, I don't have anything to say."

Lucas shrugged lightly. "That's fine."

Slight cough. "See you in Sandgem."

"Unless I get there first." A grin.

I found my face mirroring his. "You're on," I said, jumping off the stage.

* * *

An hour of awkward hugs, excited friends, and quick packing later, I left Twinleaf Town. I promised Tricia and Megan I'd conference call them from Sandgem. The black jacket I'd been wearing for the past few months smelled new again, and my deep blue backpack was no longer blue-brown from the road. Packing was quick, since I knew what I needed already. The difficulty was in not buying six pokemon's worth of food and supplies.

I missed them already. I didn't know how I'd get by without six of my closest friends. And with one gone to Dawn already, I only had five left–

I wanted the one back.


	3. Jubilife

By the time I got to Sandgem, Dawn and Lucas were already hanging out in the Pokemon Center's lounge. Okay, maybe I remembered that Route 201 shortcut wrong.

"You win," I said to Lucas, sounding reluctant. He grinned like a little kid. Right now though, my real business was with–

"Hey, Dawn… can I speak to you?"

"Sure."

I pulled her to the side, near a leafy potted plant. "Look … This is a little weird, but how set are you on training with that piplup?"

She tilted her head slightly. "Why?"

"Just wondering."

"I guess I'm pretty set. I mean, we did some training on the way here."

My eyebrows flickered up. "Already?"

"Well, I mean, a little."

"Ah." I coughed. "I was… This is the weird part… I was wondering if you'd be willing to switch."

"Switch what? Pokemon?"

"Yeah."

In another situation, her speechlessness would have indicated a mistake. Dawn pulled the blue sphere out of her coat pocket and gazed at it.

"Well… Thing is, I've already made friends with her," Dawn said slowly. "It wouldn't feel right if I traded her away now."

"No, I understand," I assured her, beating back the part of me that wanted to push further. I couldn't take Bree, if Dawn had already befriended her. Damned morals getting in the way.

"Yeah… Is something wrong?"

"Hm? I – no…" Though it was. "That's all."

Dawn nodded. "Okay."

We returned to where Lucas was sitting, me trying not to let my insides sink. "Evelyn, do you want to share a room with us?" Lucas asked me, nodding at the front desk.

(If you're not familiar with trainer life, don't worry. Trainers of different genders sharing a room is normal. Centers would otherwise run out of rooms.)

"You guys aren't moving on?" I asked, surprised.

"It'd be late by the time we get to Jubilife," he said.

"But we could make it," I insisted, falling onto the sofa opposite him.

" _Really_ late," Dawn said, coming down more gently on the cushion next to me. "The city's dangerous at night and we just started out. There's a lot we can't defend from yet."

"Exactly," I pressed, "The faster we move, the faster we grow as trainers. The faster our pokemon grow, right?"

"Okay, but there's only so far they can grow in one afternoon," Dawn said.

Well, sure, but…

"Um… I'm gonna go," I decided, standing up. "Dawn, I guess you're staying. Lucas?"

He shook his head. "I'll wait the night."

Oh. Damn.

"Okay. See you," I said to them – mostly him – before turning and heading right back out the doors. Breathe, Evelyn. You've handled a month of him dead; you can do a day or two away from him alive.

* * *

"Hi. My name's Evelyn."

The chimchar opened his hand and waved. Cute. I relaxed a little, unaware that I had been tense.

"I'm your new trainer… Did you have a name at the lab?"

He shook his head, saying, "Mm-mm."

"Okay…" Great, on-the-spot naming. "You're a guy, right?"

A nod. "I could name you… Let me know if you like the name… um…"

…problem was, Lucas never named his pokemon, last time around. I had nothing to base his name on. And I couldn't name the chimchar Bree because one, he was a guy, and two, _Bree_ was Bree, oh shoot, her name must have changed now that Dawn had her–

"I… can I name you later? Sorry…"

"Cha," he said, patting my shoulder in a strikingly friendly gesture.

"Do you want to stay out of the ball on the way to Jubilife?"

"Mm-hm."

"Okay. Hop on." I swept my hair off my shoulder and held out my arm. The chimchar clung on with first his hands, then his feet, adjusting himself to his new station. Bree was quicker and more efficient about it, but then she'd been doing it for longer.

Correction, _done_ it for longer. In the present, she wouldn't have recognized me.

* * *

The chimchar and I set off for Jubilife. Throughout the journey, I was on the lookout for any rustle in the grass, hoping for a shinx. A few times I needed my chimchar to fend of some hostile bidoofs. (I wish that was a joke, but no. They're the worst. Those teeth.)

Meanwhile, I had him go through some of the en-route exercises I created last time around. Racing with him down dirt paths, navigating progressively higher parts of treetops, jumping off ledges and ending in a crouch or a roll, depending on the height. After a particularly high drop that he somersaulted out of and ended on his feet, my chimchar cheered and let out a celebratory burst of solid embers. His first fire-type move.

Around 8 o'clock I spotted a herd of shinx.

"Hey," I whispered, pointing with the arm my chimchar wasn't sitting on. "I'm gonna get closer, but if one has a five-pointed tail star, we need to catch her." He held on to my shoulder more tightly, and I knew he heard.

Moving slowly along the bottom of a rock face, I scanned the group of shinx. Their tails moved around too fast for me to get a good look. It seemed like four points, four points, four points, four points, five–

"There! The small one! Get her!"

The chimchar launched himself in with a flamethrower… I mean, ember. The two who'd been hit yowled. The remaining seven or eight bared their teeth.

"Dodge what you can, scratch what you can't!"

With agility I hadn't believed possible from a starter, even after watching him train for hours, the chimchar sprang between shinxes, ricocheting off rocks and the shinxes' backs. I wondered why he wasn't targeting any of them… Did I need to tell him?

"Target the one with a five-pointed star."

"Chaaa!" He sent out a distress call, which was strange because his speed wasn't flagging at all. I scanned the group again, looking for the one with five stars. Did she get away? I didn't remember seeing any run off.

Where did Liana go?

I kept looking, worriedly looking, frantically looking and all I saw was four points, four points, four points, four. And my chimchar was finally losing steam.

"Come on, just a little longer… You can do it…"

What for?

He yelled in pain as a shinx caught him in the side with her claws. Another nicked his ear. Losing way too much steam way too fast.

"Crap – Let's get out of here!" I sprinted past, and he extracted himself from the melee in time to jump onto my shoulder. The shinx herd ran after us.

"Sorry, I thought Liana… sorry…"

My voice faltered. I swallowed my disappointment and ran.

The shinxes kept pursuing. Stupid youthful energy. I looked around for an escape. There was a ledge to our left.

"I'm gonna jump, watch out."

He leaped from my shoulder right when I leaped up, twisting so I could reach the relatively high ledge. I grunted when my back hit rock. My chimchar looked down at me.

"Cha?" he said, as though asking if I was all right.

"I'm okay…" Sitting up, I looked down over the ledge. Ten shinxes were howling, scrambling over each other in an attempt to climb the ledge. None had a five-pointed star. It was clear from this distance.

"I was looking for an old friend," I said out loud, not sure if the chimchar cared. "She – she doesn't know me anymore. But she's got a five-pointed star. And she's somewhere on this route."

He and I were silent, watching the shinxes slowly give up trying.

"I don't know if it's worth trying to find her anymore."

At some point one of them turned away and meowed to the others, who followed with varying shades of reluctance. I glanced at my chimchar, who was watching me. I couldn't figure out his expression.

"I guess… we'll keep going, then?"

He nodded and jumped back up to my shoulder. The ledge wound around a mountainside for a while, and let off far from where we'd left the herd. We didn't see any more shinxes that night.

* * *

Any sprinting we'd done didn't help our time much.

By the time we reached the highway leading into Jubilife, my poketch read 11 pm. Sporadic streetlights illuminated cars flying by on the eight-laned street. You could see the inner city's blinding billboards up ahead. Wind from vehicles zooming by tore at my hair and clothes. I zipped up my jacket and took my chimchar into his pokeball – the wind was threatening to blow him over. I tucked his pokeball into my jacket pocket, where six used to rest side by side.

The streets were mostly empty of pedestrians. Across the highway, a woman in a white parka walked away from the heart of the city. Maybe a hundred yards behind, someone with black hair and a grayish striped sweatshirt was heading in the same direction as me.

In a lull in the cars passing by, I heard a shuffle from an alleyway in front of me. A man in a familiar brown trenchcoat stood inside, facing away from the road. My shoulders lightened.

"Looker?"

The man turned around with a dark scowl. He stuffed a paper bag in his pocket. Not Looker.

"Oh, I thought y–"

He reached out and yanked me into the alley by the arm. I yanked back – there was another man – he clamped his hand over my mouth – I swiped backward with my left hand – missed, and the first one grabbed it and held my arms behind my back – I kicked and hit a kneecap – pushed to my knees –

"Chaaa!"

Fire shot past – guy behind let go, threw a pokeball – the other shoved me down, pinned my arms beneath – machop picked up my chimchar – fire flew – I twisted my foot out from under – knee on my ribs – chimchar hit a wall – struggled to get out – dug his knee into me –

A bird swooped in suddenly and shot out a swift attack. Gleaming yellow stars tore at the machop and his trainer, knocking out the machop. The noctowl dove at the trainer, who ducked, getting claw marks on his hands. She beat his head with her wings until he stopped defending himself long enough to recall his machop and ran into the alley's depths. The noctowl dove at the man holding me down, barreling into him beakfirst. She knocked him off and followed up with a round of swift between his legs – he screamed and scrambled to his feet, hobbling away after his friend.

Catching my breath, I rolled over and got up, heading to my chimchar immediately. He lay at the bottom of the alley wall. I carefully felt his limbs and chest for damage, then his head; there was a lump growing at the back of his skull. Concussions were a get-to-a-Center-ASAP kind of injury.

Someone appeared at the entrance to the alley. I tensed, but it wasn't one of the guys who attacked me. It was the guy wearing gray – well, blue and gray – who was walking behind me earlier. He was trying not to breathe hard.

"Are you okay? I sent Silver cause I'm slow…"

I nodded, looking away. "Yeah. 'M all right."

He knelt down next to me. "How about your chimchar?"

"Concussion. Nothing else broken." I pulled him into his pokeball.

"You can tell?" he said, surprised.

"Course I can tell." He and I stood up.

"You just seem like a new trainer."

"Oh." Yeah, cause I couldn't even defend myself, much less overpower my opponents' pokemon.

He aimed a pokeball over my head, at the noctowl. "Silver, return… what are you–"

I slammed my fist into the wall. "Whoa, stop," he said, grabbing my wrist.

"Let go." I yanked my arm. He didn't let go.

"That won't help!"

"I need to punch something!"

"Don't punch a wall…"

"What else is there to punch."

"Uh… punch me."

I stopped fighting and stared at him. "What?"

"Better than a wall."

We stared each other down. I honestly considered it. In the time it took me to decide not to punch him, I accidentally calmed down.

"Well… Thanks I guess," I said, pulling my wrist from his grasp. "For sending your noctowl after them."

"Sure."

I had a team of six yesterday, and we almost beat two Galactic admins. Then again, that hadn't been enough either.

He ended up walking with me to the pokemon center, cause we were heading the same way. He looked a few years older, and at any rate he was practically a head taller than me. His ears were big, nose kinda wide, and he wore thick glasses, like the hipster kind with just top rims and a silver bridge. He couldn't be called buff, or skinny, or fat. I couldn't tell why I was analyzing him until I realized I was comparing him to Lucas.

 _Oh… Nah, he doesn't even compare. Lucas is a lot cuter._

"…Did you start out recently?" the guy asked, trying to make conversation.

"Yeah. Just today."

"Oh, cool. Are you from Sandstone Town?"

I gave him a weird look.

"Sand… something sand."

"Sandgem?"

"Yeah."

"Nah, Twinleaf."

"Isn't that kinda far?"

"Just past Sandgem."

"You went through two towns in one day?"

"City," I said, pointing to the city lights up ahead.

"A town and a city in a day?"

"What's wrong with that?" I met his gaze. Brown eyes. Darker than Lucas's.

"That's _sooo_ far…"

"It's fine. I'm used to traveling fast."

"But you just started out."

Oops. It was my first time traveling, supposedly. "Whatever," I muttered.

We walked quietly into the city's center, the noises around us growing louder.

"So where are you from?" I asked. My turn to start the conversation.

"Johto."

"Oh!"

He laughed at my surprise. "Yep. Ecruteak City, if you know where that is."

"Heard of it. I guess you started training there?"

"Made it through five gyms."

"Why'd you stop?" A truck rattled by.

He tilted his head forward and raised his eyebrows. "Why did you stop?" I repeated, louder.

He ran a hand through his short hair. "Um… I needed a change, so I came over here instead."

"Badge run?"

"Yep. I have to start over now. It shouldn't be too hard, after a year of training."

 _A year, and only five badges? I mean, not that that's a bad thing, but… I only needed a few months for seven…_

What I actually said was, "The gym leaders here have a few sets of pokemon each. They pick teams depending on the trainer's level."

"I know. So people like me can't just breeze through."

"People still take the traditional order. Oreburgh, Eterna, Veilstone…"

I spotted someone leaning against a lamppost, staring across the street. Light brown trenchcoat. Black hair turning gray too soon. Right where I first met him.

"Looker."

He turned his head towards the sound of my voice. "Lyn!"

"You remember me?" I realized, suddenly relieved.

"I linked our poketches. My version of the app activated when you used yours."

So he came back in time with me.

"Who's your friend?" Looker asked.

I glanced at the "friend" in question. "He helped me out back there," I said, pointing over my shoulder. "I sort of got mugged."

"My _noctowl_ helped you," he said.

"Same thing."

"Is that what happened to your hand?" Looker asked, frowning.

Hand?

I checked out my right hand. The knuckles were split, swelling, and turning blue.

"That… was something else."

"I'm glad you're okay. Tell me what happened."

He meant more than the mugging. I looked at the guy next to me.

"I'll go on ahead," he said, leaving me and Looker to chat. "Bye."

"See you," I said. As though I would.

"So," Looker said, nodding at me.

I explained what had happened, from the time Looker called me about Galactic's location to the battle with Mars and Jupiter. Looker kept a lookout (ha ha) for eavesdroppers for the duration of my story.

"Hmm… Okay. I was hoping to find out what was a little farther in," he said, sounding disappointed.

"Sorry."

"Hey, that's fine. You got pretty far as it is. Now we know we need more than one person to get through," he said, smiling ruefully. "Unless we can prevent it sooner."

"So what are your plans now?" I asked him.

"Take Galactic as it develops," Looker said with a shrug. "We've got the advantage now that we've seen their plans. You'll, ah… Any chance you could stay in this mission? I know you were never a formal part of it…"

"Looker, of _course_ ," I told him. "It's not something I can get out of anymore."

"Well, all right," he said, seeming at ease.

"I'm staying the night at the Center, if you need me," I let him know.

"Yeah, all right. I'll walk you there."

* * *

 **Disclaimer: any similarities characters may have with real-life people are either definitely true or not at all true and you're deluding yourself. One character is a sheep in wolf's clothing: looks like a person who's mean irl, but is a different person altogether in this story.**

 **Just fyi.**


	4. Caves

I couldn't sleep. There were too many unanswered questions popping up in my head, both ones I'd already had – _How can I get Liana still? What do I name my chimchar?_ – and new ones – _Where is Galactic at this point in time? Do they still have the same plans? Am I older than Dawn now? Cause I know she and Lucas and I were all born within a year of each other, but I've got almost half a year unaccounted for…_

My chimchar was resting in the pokemon care unit downstairs. His concussion wasn't too bad, but he was spending the night just in case. Otherwise they'd put him through PRH (Pokemon Radiation Healing, the little machine you put your pokeballs on to make them all better) in the morning, and he'd be good to go.

I hoped I'd done okay, actingwise. It would be weird if people found out about the whole time travel thing. And since I wasn't especially demotivated or depressed before this day in September, I had to change quickly.

It would be even weirder having to talk to Megan and Tricia again, after not speaking to them for a month. When I started out we called each other constantly–

I flung the covers off and jammed my feet into my shoes. I forgot to vidcall them when I reached Sandgem.

* * *

"Heyyyy what took you so long?" Tricia sounded excited.

I smiled tiredly. "Sorry, I forgot when I reached Sandsto– I mean gem."

"Are Lucas and Dawn there?"

"No, they're in Sandgem still."

"Wait, so where are you?" Megan asked.

"Jubilife."

They both said a variation of "THAT FAR?"

"Yeah, I thought I could make it early enough."

"Wow, you're… wow."

"Good wow, or bad wow?"

"Impressed and kinda horrific," Tricia decided.

"Horrified? Me too," Megan said.

"What's wrong with two towns?"

"Just that you got there so late. You could have gotten hurt."

I laughed. Laughed harder and more honestly than I had in this new cycle. "Megan," I squeezed in between laughs, "I'm – a _trainer_. I'm gonna – get hurt at some – some point. It's a – an – an occupational hazard."

"But you can minimize it. Promise you'll do your best? Stay safe?"

My laughs died out slowly. I wasn't planning to stay safe. "I make no promises," I told her and Tricia, pretending it was funny. Back to pretending now.

" _Evelyn_ –"

"What's there to argue?" I cut her off. "I'm a trainer, and I need to take risks. There is no hope for a trainer who doesn't. You've got to realize that before I go farther on this journey."

"There's some risks you don't have to take though," Tricia pointed out, more serious than usual. Megan had a strange expression, like she was trying to figure out something. Oops. I'd just sounded like an experienced trainer, even for someone who'd just gotten– Ah, I'll save that rant.

"I'm just trying to go fast," I said. "If I train quickly and get through the gyms, I'll have time to visit."

Not technically a lie. But would I visit.

"Oh, okay," Tricia said, cheerful again. "Then are you gonna catch another pokemon for the first gym? I hear there's grass types around where you are."

Megan frowned. "What's that have to do with…"

"You know. Cause she's got a fire type."

Ohhhhhhh Arceussssss.

The first gym was _rock_.

"I didn't think about that…" I groaned. "Wow, time to train like heck."

"You could catch a budew," Tricia suggested.

"Yeah, I… I might just… I kinda have some pokemon in mind to catch," I said vaguely.

"Oh, okay. Don't be afraid to change your mind," Tricia reminded me.

"Yeah." I scratched my neck.

Megan pounced. "What's that?"

Shoot. My right knuckles were bandaged.

"I fell."

Megan didn't push it, but she looked upset. "Evelyn…"

"I gotta go," I said, looking offscreen as though someone was there. "Heading out early. I'll call you at Oreburgh, okay?"

"Okay… See you."

"Bye~" I ended the call in the middle of Tricia's farewell. Urghh. Cheerfulness after a month as an emotionless rock was really hard.

Pun not intended.

Rock reference also not intended, but resented anyways.

* * *

My chimchar and I headed towards Oreburgh Gate in the morning. I'd just find Liana the next time I passed through Jubilife. It would be soon. Right after the Oreburgh gym.

"Hey, so –" He was on my shoulder as we entered. "We're facing off against rock types at the first gym. This is practice. Caves are rock-type havens."

He nodded. Bree would have chirped.

I brought out my flashlight to navigate the cave. My chimchar's tail wouldn't be enough for this. It was chillier than I remembered. I kept sweeping the surroundings, hearing noises all around me.

At one point I heard a flap, swung my flashlight, and found a zubat in my face.

"AAAARGH!" I shrieked, ducking and losing the flashlight in my hurry to cover my head. The dark lit up briefly with a _whoosh_ , and the zubat squeaked. Another whoosh of embers and the zubat hit the ground.

Heart still pounding, I looked at my chimchar. He smiled and patted me on the arm.

 _You can do this, Evelyn. It's just a cave. Just a cave._

He beat up most of the zubats that came to bother us, eventually taking them down with one ember apiece. We came across a few psyducks, but ignored them for a while. When an angry one slapped my chimchar in the face, he danced around her and used scratch until she fell over. It took him ten seconds.

The only problem was, we hadn't seen any rock types.

He and I camped for a night in a fairly warm part of the cave, both of us curling up on the rock floor. In the morning, we found our first geodude. It took a little while, but my chimchar managed to beat him with just a few bruises. I potioned them away before we encountered a couple more. He had a tougher time with these two. The rest of the day passed with a number of psyduck and zubat encounters, but no geodudes.

The third day, I took the bandages off my knuckles – they hadn't bruised that badly – and we came across another trainer. It turned out we had pokemon of similar strength, so we battled. I only found out after my chimchar beat his croagunk that the guy had battled Roark already and won. Which should have meant my chimchar was ready to do the same, but since croagunks are fighting types – good against rock – I figured we still had some training to do.

There were a few hours without activity as we traversed the innermost part of Oreburgh Gate. I grew steadily more uncomfortable with the rock walls over time. My mind wandered towards Lucas.

Lucas. We only became friends six months before the journey, but we'd grown so much closer over the course of our travels. He was the warmest guy I knew; when I danced with him at Lake Valor's annual trainer ball – the main event was a tournament, but there was a dance that evening – his hands felt nearly feverish. Warm as the amber brown of his eyes.

I could pinpoint the day I fell for him. There was a huge New Year's Eve party in Twinleaf, within two blocks of where I lived. Megan got sick and Tricia went out of town last minute, so I ended up going alone. I drifted between groups of people I vaguely knew all night, and at some point I ended up with Claire, who was talking to someone I didn't know.

She was wearing a giant foam hat, and when the conversation slowed at my arrival, I pulled it over her head and ran away. His laugh rang out, surprising me because he was normally so serious, I didn't know he _could_ laugh.

What really got me was when I said something to him later. Something little, something that didn't need to be said or heard. Not important enough for me to remember. It was the way he responded when I said it, because I talk so fast that people can't often understand me. Megan and Tricia took a few years to get used to my speech. My parents still bug me about it, loudly. And no one understands what I say 100% of the time. That night, New Year's Eve, the room was loud and made me even harder to understand, and Lucas didn't make a big deal of it. He just leaned forward in a way that said he was listening, could you say that again? his eyes steadily meeting mine.

Sometimes it felt like he was the only one who really, genuinely listened.

…Jeez, it had only been a few days, but I missed him already. Side effect of him being alive; knowing I could see him again made me miss him more.

"Hey, what's down that way?" I wondered, pointing my flashlight into a side cave. It sloped steeply downward, then leveled off.

"Wanna check it out?"

"Chim." The nod told me more than the vocal did.

He and I crept down the slope, walking carefully to avoid slipping. The cave grew tighter at the bottom, but beyond it–

"Whoaa."

A cavern. Narrow stalactites dripped from the ceiling everywhere, like melted chandeliers. Stalagmites rimmed the edges of a rocky room the size of a large gym. We walked towards the middle. I scanned the walls with my flashlight beam, finding only tunnels too small for me to fit through leading out of the cave. Too bad, I guess.

Something bothered me about the place.

My chimchar jumped onto my shoulder. His grip was already stronger, more assured, but not too tight. "Think we should head out?" I asked him.

"Chimm…" he said warily.

It hit me suddenly. Stalagmites and stalactites come in pairs. Why weren't there stalagmites beneath all the stalactites in the _middle_ of the room?

 _Rumble_ …

I braced myself just before the rock floor started moving. I don't mean shaking, I mean _moving._ Cracks split the ground, boulders dislodging and starting to roll… correction, not boulders.

We were surrounded by geodudes within seconds. I knew ecology well enough to know how territorial geodudes could get.

Okay, options. Talk to them. Geodudes were not reasonable creatures. Fight them. Arceus no, my chimchar couldn't beat ten-plus rock types yet. Run away. Probably the best choice.

Without making any sudden movements, I turned around and started to step towards the entrance. The geodudes in front of us didn't move. I heard the ones behind us closing in.

The chimchar on my shoulder soundlessly climbed to the top of my head. That wasn't going to help him much if the geodudes attacked. Which looked likely.

 _Oh…. Arceus._

He jumped suddenly, leaped up using my skull as a springboard. "CHAARRRR!" he screamed, hurling the largest ember attack I'd ever seen at the ceiling. They flew in all directions because he made himself spin, and they rocketed at the stalactites.

 _Cr-cr-crack!_

I caught him and buried him in my arms – he shut off his tailflame – to protect him from the falling stalactites. But when the sound of collapsing rock ceased, we hadn't been hit.

Slowly, I relaxed my arms, and my chimchar relit his tailflame. The geodudes had been hit. Being rock themselves, none of them had been impaled by the falling stone spikes. That being said, each one was unconscious.

I studied the chimchar in my arms. His eyes shone in the warm light of his fire.

"We _can_ beat that gym, can't we," I said to him. Not a question. I didn't doubt it anymore.

He giggled and started to glow.


	5. Trust

"I think I've got a name for you," I told him just inside Oreburgh Gate's exit.

My monferno and I were gradually adjusting to the light after three days of relative darkness. He made a monkey noise that sounded a lot like "Uh-huh?"

"How does Trust sound?"

Monfernos are really good at human speech imitations – he said, "Awww." Guess that was a yes.

We headed straight to the Pokemon Center in Oreburgh to wash up. Trust headed to the pokemon washrooms. I almost asked if he could handle the washing himself, but I stopped, remembering that I could trust him. Sure enough, when I finished my shower, he was waiting in the lobby, fur and skin clean and smelling like roses.

Since Trust and I had been training so much in the last few days, I decided we should take the rest of the day off. I knew we ought to be going faster, but we'd already gone fast enough for Trust to evolve. We could afford this break.

This time, I remembered to call Megan and Tricia at the Pokemon Center.

"DUDE WE WERE SO WORRIED."

"Whoa. I'm fine," I protested, stunned. Good thing I had my headphones in.

"WE LITERALLY THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD OR SOMETHING."

"Ohhh, Arceus, stop worrying," I said, still in shock.

"THREE DAYS AFTER YOU TOOK JUST ONE TO GET THROUGH TWO TOWNS?"

"Tricia, I was training. Trust and I are up against a rock type gym – we needed to train against rock types."

"You named him?" Megan was being calmer about this, although initially she'd looked concerned. Like I'd come online with an ear missing.

"Yeah. He's a monferno now, so the gym will be a breeze. He's stronger than I thought," I told them. "You guys don't have to worry. I won't get hurt."

"How would we know that?" Tricia grumbled.

"Anyway. Have you guys heard from Lucas and Dawn? I haven't seen them since Jubilife."

"Alice said they were battling Roark today," Megan said. "We haven't heard the results."

"Damn, I thought I was ahead of them."

"They'll have to train longer for Eterna though," Tricia pointed out, bouncing back from her initial concern. "It's grass. You've got the advantage after the first gym."

"I guess… The forest is a pretty nice opportunity for training, though."

"Are you going alone through the forest?" Megan asked.

I squinted sideways at the screen. "No, I have Trust with me, and possibly one more by that time." Liana, hopefully. Owen might be around sooner or later.

"I mean humanwise."

"What's wrong with pokemon?"

"Nothing. But another trainer would have more pokemon too, and you know, strength in numbers…"

"Trust is a fire type." Not this again. "Look, I'm gonna go check out his mach punch. He hasn't used it much yet." At all, actually. "See you guys."

"Bye."

"Bye…"

Rather than actually go out and train – hell, he smelled too nice to do training – I took Trust to one of the city's cafés. It was a cheap one, but since the gym was in its vicinity it was respectable. I'd been there before. With Lucas. By chance.

I was daydreaming about him when a male voice behind me inquired, "Mind if I sit here?"

I glanced up and did a double take. Roark – fairly young gym leader, at age 24, still wearing hipster glasses and a rust-colored ponytail – had just walked in. He wasn't wearing his signature mining gear, so I guessed the button-down and jeans meant he was relaxing. "Not at all," I said, gesturing at the seat beside me at the counter. Trust was seated on my other side.

"How long've you been training?" Roark asked, sliding into the vinyl seat.

"Around… four days now?"

"Four days?" he repeated, eyes wide.

"Well, I mean, this is the fourth."

"You already evolved your starter?"

"Yep."

"Did you grow up around pokemon?"

"Not really…"

"I see." He paused. "I thought you trained longer cause you let your pokemon out. Usually that's an older trainer thing."

Oh yeah. I took a look at Trust, who I'd let out without a second thought. "Seems natural to me."

Roark grinned. "Me too. I'm glad you figured it out so fast."

My food arrived – an omelet, basically the only thing I ever ordered at cafés – and Trust received a bowl of sitrus berries. He started munching happily. Roark ordered a coffee and bagel, even though it was nearing 9 pm.

"I heard some of my friends challenged you today," I mentioned.

He nodded and shrugged simultaneously. "Both won with a type advantage. They were interesting."

"Interesting?"

"Yeah. The girl – Dana or Dawn?"

"Dawn."

"Dawn played to speed, rather than power. She might have an issue with Gardenia, whose turtwig's defense is pretty high, but in the long run it's a nice thought. Lucas – right? – I thought he was playing defense, but he found subtle opportunities to get some solid hits. He took two of mine down with just his turtwig."

"Wow, dang." I remembered Dawn fighting in the way he described, but not Lucas.

"Don't take my word on that, though. People change. Styles change. At least they're not doing the newbie thing, the throwing-moves-around one."

Roark's order arrived; he stirred some sugar into the coffee. Trust had finished his berries and was now eyeing my plate. I cut some of the omelet off for him; it was too big to finish, anyways.

"You gonna challenge me sometime?" Roark asked, dipping his bagel in the coffee.

"Probably tomorrow."

"Gonna challenge them?"

He meant Lucas and Dawn. "Uh… Maybe."

"You should go for it," he said seriously. "Friendly battles are one of the best ways to get better. You get to gauge yourself against the same people."

It would be painful challenging Bree. And with Rhea now being the pokemon of a trainer I'd spent a month mourning, I wasn't sure how well that would go, either.

"Something up?" Roark asked, pausing with his coffee halfway to his mouth.

"Nah."

"I can tell," he insisted. "I'm not Lucian, but that doesn't mean I can't be a little psychic."

I sighed. "It's complicated."

The coffee mug made it to his mouth. "I had to challenge my father when I was starting out as a trainer," he said once the mug was back on the counter. "He was the Oreburgh gym leader back then. His first pick was his shieldon. Probably the second most brutal thing he's ever done, after running off to Canalave. I grew up with this shieldon. There's literally a picture of me and that shieldon running through a meadow of daisies. Having to fight him stirred up a bunch of conflicting emotions, from 'I can't fight a friend!' to 'Dad, holy–'" He swore here. "…er, sorry."

"It's okay."

"At any rate, I could've beat him pretty fast, but I had to overcome worrying about that shieldon first. When I did, it was a matter of minutes."

"Moral of the story…?"

"Don't hold yourself back. Your friends will understand, and battles are voluntary for the pokemon. You'll have to overcome inhibitions like these at some point, if you're going to be successful."

Roark went back to dipping his bagel in the coffee. Trust tried to sneak away another piece of my omelet. I pushed the plate over to him.

"If you don't mind me asking, why're you telling me all this?" I wanted to know.

He smiled. "Part of my job, as gym leader. And… something's different about you. The way you treat your monferno already, even though you're new."

Roark finished his coffee. "I'll see you tomorrow…?"

"Evelyn," I offered.

"See you then, Evelyn." He took the rest of the bagel with him and headed out the door.

"Nice meeting you," I called back.

* * *

Around ten minutes later, we walked out. I was still hungry cause Trust ate most of my food, but whatever. Hunger is a trainer's survival skill.

"Evelyn!"

I looked toward the voice – Dawn! They'd caught up?

"We thought you'd be halfway to Eterna by now," she said ruefully. It was just her right now.

"Oh, nah, I spent a few days training in the caves. Sorry I rushed ahead. I did want to join you guys."

I was sorry. Not exactly for the reasons I implied.

"We could join up now. We're off to Eterna tomorrow," Dawn said.

"I haven't fought the gym yet…"

Her eyes widened. "After training for three days?"

"Yeah. I've got a fire type. I figured I'd get him to learn mach punch first."

"Ohh. How's that gone?"

I glanced at Trust, who padded over to a nearby rock. "We haven't quite gotten there yet."

He threw his fist at the rock as fast as he could. And squealed, cause punching a rock – or a wall, for that matter – hurts.

"Darn it, Trust."

"If you battle Roark tomorrow morning, we could wait for you," Dawn offered.

"That would be great."

We wound up sharing a room in the Pokemon Center that night. Lucas and I ended up in there at the same time, in our pajamas (Trainers tend to have a separate sleeping set of clothes, cause traveling clothes are hard to wash every day. Some carry around rotations of things like shirts or underwear so they don't stink by the next town. Clothing becomes a strategy. Don't get me started on formal wear.).

"What happened to your knee?" I asked, noticing a bruise running across his leg.

"Fell off a cliff."

I angled my head, waiting for him to continue. His eyes sparkled, telling me he was going to leave it at that.

"What happened to your knuckles?" Lucas asked, noticing the scabs.

"I punched a wall."

He raised his eyebrows. I raised mine back at him. He doesn't tell me, I don't tell him. Fair is fair. Lucas broke eye contact first, which disappointed me. I hoped he would tell me still.

"Were you okay on Saturday?" He changed the topic

Trainer selection day. "I – yeah, I was fine. Why?"

"You seemed kinda dazed."

"Oh. I guess."

He didn't press it. It was sweet how he'd noticed.

"So how's being a trainer so far?" I asked him.

Lucas shrugged. "Good. There hasn't been much so far."

"Oh. Yeah."

I tried to think of a good conversation topic. What was there to say?

"Do you want to meet Trust?" I asked finally.

"Who?"

"My monferno."

Mild shock on his face – intensified by his usual lack of emotion. "It evolved already?"

"Yeah, he did." I tossed his pokeball without protesting the incorrect pronoun more than that. "Haven't gone to the gym yet, though."

"Why not?" He held out a hand to Trust, who shook it.

"We just got here. Figured we'd take the rest of the day off."

Lucas looked towards me, still holding Trust's hand. "Was it that tired?"

"We were out for three days. Didn't want to take on the gym in less-than-optimal condition." I met Trust's eyes and smiled. "Not that he needed it, exactly."

"Pokemon Center healing."

"It's not the same. Heals injuries, not exhaustion."

"I thought it did."

"Not completely. Maybe 50%."

"How do you know that?"

I paused, remembering: this wasn't public knowledge. I figured it out myself. Owen – my arcanine – ran from Solaceon to Celestic Town in a day, and when I sent him to the heal center, he came back no longer winded or battered, but still exhausted.

"Someone told me."

"Ah."

I wanted to trust Lucas. Everything lying under my tongue that wanted to escape was in such easy reach. And here I was, and the only thing blocking me from trusting Lucas was the five-foot gap between bunks and one monferno ironically named Trust.

To be fair, it was more than that.

Dawn walked in, her hair already blown dry and brushed. "The gym opens at ten. We can head out when you're finished battling."

"What if I lose?" I asked.

She shot me an amused look. "You've got a monferno. It'll take ten minutes, tops."

"Eight," Lucas cut in.

"Seven."

"Fifty Pokés on six."

"Wow, no pressure, guys," I said, raising my hands by my head.

"No deal, I'm leaning toward six, too," Dawn said.

"Sixty on five," Lucas countered.

Dawn shook her head and said, "Fine. Evelyn, don't battle too fast."

"No promises."

By then it was eleven. Dawn turned out the lights.


	6. Help Is Not Coming

Trust and I returned to the cave for last minute training. It was dark and I left my flashlight and bag in the room, but we had his tailflame to go by.

"Test out your mach punch," I said. "Gather energy in your fist as fast as you can, and punch. It's more instinctive than technical."

Trust closed his eyes. He pulled his fist back and held it there. I could tell he was concentrating. White light began to collect around his fist right when he started shaking.

Trust screamed. The light and his tailflame both went out. Pitch black.

"Trust?!"

I whipped my head around, looking for the cause, and when I turned back two giant red eyes stared into mine. The eyes of Lucas's killer.

I woke up with a soft gasp. Theatrical sitting-bolt-upright-with-a-piercing-scream isn't my style. That soft gasp was the loudest awakening I'd ever had.

I sat up slowly. Trust was asleep on the floor, his tail extinguished for safety. Dawn was motionless on the top bunk across the room, and Lucas was still. I waited for my heart rate to slow down.

I exhaled. Lucas's face was sweet when he was asleep; when he was awake he looked more guarded. I knew the stressed crease between his eyebrows too well. He only relaxed when he was sleeping and when he was with people he trusted.

I was that person, at one point. That was in the future. I couldn't remember who I was now.

Gazing at his calm face, I let the tightness in my heart relax. Whoever we'd been, whoever we were now, we'd get there again.

And I'd protect him this time.

* * *

"So yeah, sorry it's early," I said, rubbing my eyes as we headed down the Pokemon Center's hallway, "but we've got to get mach punch down by ten."

"Mon." He sounded okay with it.

At the practice battlefield just outside, I went over mach punch the same way I had in my dream. He got it working in ten minutes, and had it down in half an hour. I should've known we didn't need to get up at 6 for this.

"Let's go get breakfast. At 9:40 we'll… aah, dammit," I said, "We didn't stretch first."

Trust jumped up to poke me in the cheek, then ran away.

Lucas and Dawn were out by 8. I returned to the room a bit later to get my things packed up. When I got there, I found someone waiting for me.

"Hey," said Looker, "Mind if we chat?"

I sat on my bunk. He took Lucas's.

"I transmitted the records of what happened to the IP," he said.

I nodded. "They've got it under control, then, right?"

Looker grimaced. "That's the thing. Not all of the… higher ups really believe in this creation-of-a-new-world idea. I mean, Galactic hadn't yet shown proof that they were succeeding in that by the time you activated the app."

"So they're not going to do anything because I set it off too early," I concluded, heart sinking.

Looker caught on. "Lyn. No. You set it off at the right time. Anything could've happened after that. They could've taken your poketch, they could've killed you, they could've created the new world and screwed up the space-time-continuum and made your app useless. It's not your fault. It's the IP's, because they're centered in Johto and are more focused on the Team Rocket bull that's going on right now. And I'm pretty sure Magma and Aqua started duking it out right when Rocket went under."

"And Hoenn is right near Johto." I groaned. "So there's no help coming our way."

"For now. On the other hand, we know what's happening from here on out."

"I guess."

"I've got a transcript of basic events that happened over the course of the next few months," he said, totally comfortable with the weird verb-object tense agreement. "Your poketch will get notifications, and," Looker handed me a diary, the kind with a built-in lock and the word "Diary" inscribed in gold print, "it's all in here, too."

"Thanks."

"Anytime. How are things going?"

I checked the clock. "Okay. I'll be battling Roark in an hour. After that Dawn and Lucas and I are moving on. Provided Trust and I beat Roark, which I know we will."

Looker smiled. "Glad you're readjusting. It's not too strange?"

"Well, it is pretty weird, and… I haven't given up on my old pokemon," I admitted, "But I guess I am getting used to it."

He nodded. "Good." We stared at the ground.

Looker coughed. "Lucas… he meant a lot to you, didn't he?" he said in a low voice.

"He still does," I said quietly.

"It's great you're getting a second chance at that too. Do be careful still. Overcompensation is not ideal."

"I know."

He nodded again. "I won't keep you longer. Best of skill." Because he didn't believe in luck.

"Thanks." I shoved what I needed into my bag and headed back out.

* * *

Stretched at 9:40.

Waited at 9:55.

Went in at 10.

"Battle… begin!" at 10:03.

"Trust, it's yours!"

"Geodude, I choose you!"

"Start it off with an ember!"

"Get a stealth rock going!"

Ah, so he was playing like I'd switch out. Don't underestimate the fire type.

"Ember again!"

To be fair, I was pushing the fire disadvantage, too.

The ember hit, just as the first one had, but did little.

"Rock throw!"

"Dodge and get in there," I said, switching modes suddenly. "Mach punch."

Trust evaded the rock with ease and darted in, nailing the geodude in the face (hahahahaha geddit cause most of a geodude is a face…). He sprang back, ready for his next move… But the geodude was down.

"Geodude is unable to battle. Round one goes to the challenger," announced the… announcer.

"Whoa," Roark said, pulling back his geodude. "I can't say that was expected, despite the evolution. Onix!"

A giant rock snake appeared on the battlefield, coincidentally–

"Trust, jump."

He leaped up right as the onix tightened himself around the spot where Trust had just been standing.

"Dirty trick," I said. "Mach punch."

Trust came crashing down on a rock in Onix's middle, causing the latter to roar in pain and topple over. The rock was cracked. It would heal.

Trust leaped off and caught my eye. He must have landed too hard, as he was carrying his right hand funny. Problematic. Because while he was ambidextrous, as I'd discovered over the last few days, he'd only learned mach punch on his right.

"Onix is unable to battle. Round two to the challenger."

"Nice catch," Roark commented. "Continue?"

Trust nodded at me. "Continue," I said.

"Cranidos, leer!" he shouted immediately, throwing a pokeball.

"Trust, go right, hit left."

My monferno flinched when he saw the glare, but nonetheless landed a hit on the cranidos's cheekbone. It worked, but it was considerably weaker than his right-handed punch.

"Headbutt!"

"Get in with mach punch."

Trust bounded in, but Cranidos ducked at the last second, nailing Trust with a headbutt. Trust went tumbling backwards. He shook his head clear.

"Headbutt again!"

"Wait on this one…"

Trust stood, waiting for the charge to reach him, ready. "Jump over, mach punch!"

It was like an acrobatics act. He leaped just barely over the incoming cranidos's head, then pushed off the rock type's back with a two-handed mach punch. Cranidos fell flat.

"Cranidos is unable to battle. The battle goes to the challenger, Evelyn Meyers," at 10:06.

"That might've been the fastest gym battle I've faced, ever," Roark said, withdrawing his final pokemon. In my periphery, I could see Dawn handing money to Lucas.

I beckoned to Trust. He cantered (there's no good word for a monkey run, honestly) over, and I held out my hand. He gave me his right hand – it was a little red, and he winced when I brushed it with my fingers.

"You must've fallen hecka hard on that onix," I realized. "You did amazing."

"Monferno~"

I pulled him into his pokeball so his hand wouldn't hurt him. Roark had reached me by then.

"Hey, congrats."  
"Thanks."

"I couldn't analyze your fighting style because that was so quick," he laughed, "but you think fast, and that's a good asset to have. And you connected with your pokemon within four, five days. You're way ahead of the game."

I felt myself turning red. Stop it, Evelyn. You already know how to play this game. You've been a trainer for months.

"Having said that, I present to you the Coal Badge." He handed me the pin and the prize money. "Also, here's the rock smash HM, if you find yourself in need of it."

"Thank you." We shook hands.

* * *

Trust went through the heal machine in minutes, but it's always best to be careful with injuries even after the machine has been used. I kept him in my pokeball.

"Eterna… is… Oh, it's back through Jubilife." Dawn was reading the map. "So we just head back through Oreburgh Gate. Then it's Jubilife, Floaroma, and Eterna."

"Plus a forest," Lucas added.

"I know, I know."

We gave ourselves a day to get back to Jubilife. The trip was easy with three of us and our one-badge pokemon, but the cave walls still inexplicably felt like they were pressing down on me.

The first time we went on our journeys, we never really went as a trio. We were three separate trainers that happened to cross paths every now and then, often during times of danger. Dawn and I got her pokedex back when some Galactic grunts grabbed it in Veilstone. All three of us went through Eterna's HQ. We split up for the lakes. Lucas and I–

A chill ran down my back. "What day is today?" I asked suddenly.

They had been talking about, I don't know, special defense or ice types or sibling pranks or something. "Wednesday," said Dawn.

I swung my bag from my shoulder. Still walking, I wrangled the book Looker gave me from my bag and flipped through the first few pages.

Wait, they were blank.

I flipped around some more to figure it out. It was a legitimate diary, with blank lined paper for most of the book and a compressed calendar in the back. September through February was filled out in green ink. I checked the first Wednesday with something written in.

"Valley Windworks."

I checked my poketch, too; the notification was there, though it had popped up noiselessly and gone unnoticed. My heart started pounding in my head. I remembered this day so clearly. I couldn't believe I'd wasted so much time training in Oreburgh Gate that I'd forgotten the little girl running down the river, crying because her papa was locked in the windworks.

But how in the _hell_ was I supposed to get Lucas and Dawn to run to the Windworks?

"Hypothetical question," I said during a lull in their conversation, "If I told you something was happening a few towns away, and it was a pretty big issue but we could handle it, what would you do?"

"Why?"

"Megan and Tricia and I were talking about it last night."

Dawn thought about it.

Lucas spoke first. "There'd be people there who could handle it."

"Yeah," Dawn agreed.

"What if they didn't know – like if we were the only ones who knew about it?"

"Contact someone there?" Dawn looked at Lucas and shrugged. "Name a town, I guess."

"Let's say… Floaroma."

"Heh. A town of gardeners. Great."

I held my breath.

"I guess Jubilife is closer still. Call the local police in Floaroma, or get someone in Jubilife to check it out. Cause we're hecka far away."

Exhale. Damn it.

"Would they believe you, though," said Lucas.

"I mean they might. Would be pretty embarrassing if we were wrong, though," Dawn said with a humored grimace.

We were fast enough to make it to Jubilife by evening, me debating what to do most of the way. I figured it out by the time we got out of Oreburgh Gate.

They weren't going to go for it… that much was certain. But no one in Floaroma, face it, would either believe or be able to solve the problem at the Windworks. The police force in Sinnoh was a joke. Hell, the International Police was barely more than a joke. Looker wasn't even allowed to travel with pokemon for some Arceusforsaken legal reason. They were all about intel over action. Running out of options.

Running.

So when we got to Jubilife, we checked into a room and I went downstairs, saying I was going to check in with my mom and Megan and Tricia. I looked back at Lucas as I left. He caught me looking at him and gave a little smile.

 _Here I go leaving him again._

 _Think of the little girl, Evelyn._

"Next – hello."

"Hello. Nurse, I need to get to Floaroma really fast. Family emergency. If anyone asks for me, could you let them know where I went?"

"Honey, it's getting late. Are you sure you need to leave now?"

"Yes. I'm sure."

"All right. I'll let them know. Stay safe."

 _Why is everyone obsessed with me staying safe?_ I wondered, bolting out the door.


	7. Valley Windworks

Let's face it: it was a bad idea. Floaroma was a half day's walk away, and I started out at seven, running. I realized right as I left Jubilife that I was leaving the city behind for the second time – leaving Liana for the second time.

 _Liana and Lucas. This better be frigging worth it._

It was 9:30 when I arrived in Floaroma. Trust was still in his pokeball, resting so he'd be in good shape when we reached the Windworks. I only brought him out once, to help me get through the cave on route 204. Rocks to smash. Left hand. Still being careful with the right.

We took a ten minute break – Pokemon Center cafeterias are open late for trainer teams like us. The lady serving food came to check on me because I was so winded. I told her I was fine, with fingers still tingling and cheeks numb and knees shaking.

Bright side: now I had bragging rights.

Also, we were in Floaroma.

I stopped by a Pokemart to purchase a right-handed brace that would fit Trust, then set out again. The Windworks were another two miles to the east.

I ran along the river path. Starting again was harder than the journey to Floaroma. My lungs burned like never before.

The Valley Windworks is a major sight in Sinnoh. It's right at the bottom of Mount Coronet, so for miles around you can see the windmills rolling like so many little pinwheels in the distance. Up close, the closest windmills are like obelisks harnessing energy and moving it through wires into a blocky gray building: the Windworks itself.

From far away, I could see someone dozing against the front entrance to the Windworks. I got right in front of him before he noticed my presence.

"Hey."

The uniformed grunt opened an eye lazily and glanced my way. "H'lo."

"I'd like to go inside the Windworks."

He scoffed and stroked his dyed hair. "Can't. Problems. No one's allowed in. Come back later."

"The only problem here is Team Galactic."

He squinted at me. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Let me in."

"Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin."

"I'm serious."

A smirk. "Six on six?"

I knew Team Galactic grunts well enough to call his bluff. "Sure thing."

"Glameow, scare them off."

"Trust, it's yours. Watch the claws."

She pounced at him, screaming, but ultimately her little claws were no match for Trust's braced fist. Oneshotted.

The grunt turned pale. "Return." In a flash, he opened the door behind him and slipped through.

"No!" I shouted, charging at the door. But it shut with a click before I made it.

 _The key_ , I thought frantically, _I forgot to get the spare Windworks key!_

 _The key is in Floaroma._

Exhausted, I leaned against the door. Another two miles and back to run… My head spun just thinking of it.

"Lyn?"

I turned my head. "Looker?"

"Weren't you just in Oreburgh?"

"Weren't _you_?"

"Transportation is one of the IP's few powers," he said, putting a hand on my forehead. "Are you all right?"

"I've been running since Jubilife," I told him.

"Mew, Evelyn. Even if you are a runner..."

Trust pulled something out of my backpack and handed it to me. "Aw, thanks," I said, drinking from the water bottle.

"Are you heading in, then?"

My face fell. "No. It's locked."

He stared at me for a few seconds before realization broke through. "Right. I forgot. You didn't keep it, I did."

Huh?

He pulled out a key ring and picked a dull gray one from the bunch. "Remember this?"

 _The Windworks key._

I remembered now. I handed it off to him after going through with Lucas, last time. So that he could return there if he needed to.

"Can I send you in alone?" Looker asked, handing me the key.

"Of course. Stay out of the way."

"All right." It could have been a joke, another time, with another person, but I was serious here. Looker would be vulnerable in there. So he turned and walked back down the dirt path.

I turned the key in the lock. Trust and I were going in.

* * *

The grunt I'd met outside saw me first. "Perimeter breach!" he yelled, "BREEEEAAAACH!"

Two more grunts ran in. Hm. I hadn't bargained on any double battles.

"Zubat!"

"Glameow!"

"Trust, mach punch first. Get that type advantage. Ember on the zubat."

He seemed a little confused at first – hm, should teach him type advantages – but he figured it out fast, sprang forward to nail the glameow in the chest, and hit the zubat within moments of that. The glameow swiped at his back, achieving a shallow cut. Trust elbowed her.

"Do that again, but put fighting energy into it."

"Glameow, watch out! Fury swipes!"

"Leech life!"

The glameow turned around just in time to get nailed in the face with a mach elbow. Zubat spat a needle at Trust, stabbing him in the rear. Leech life always looked worse than it felt (this from experience fighting Galactic zubats).

"Glameow's down. Ember."

Trust shot a bundle of flames at the zubat, nailing him in the wing. Too easy.

"Return."

"Trust," I said, beckoning to him as I walked toward the grunts. They started to edge away. "Hold up," I said, "Where's the other grunts?"

The one I met outside shifted nervously. "This was it."

"Did the others leave?"

The one with the zubat – a guy shorter than me – shook his head. "It was just us. I swear."

"Fine." I walked past them, Trust at my side.

"Where are you going?!"

"You know where I'm going," I called back over my shoulder.

I remembered these corridors. Admittedly, it wasn't a hard building to navigate. Just a few turns before I reached the control room.

I saw Mars in the corner, leaning over a computer. The Windworks keeper was nearby, looking exhausted but okay.

Charon was there. Old man in a lab coat. Red-tinted glasses. He looked over his shoulder, raising his eyebrows in amusement. "Well!" he said, "You got through those worthless grunts, I see."

I ignored him. "Mars, speaking for both the daughter of this man and for Sinnoh itself, please leave the premises."

Mars glanced up, looking exasperated. "We're here for reasons much larger than a little girl."

"I know. That's why I said Sinnoh itself."

Mars's gaze narrowed. Wait, hold up, too far, shoot.

"Then what are our plans?"

"You're trying to be the bad guys of Johto and Kanto," I said with a serious façade. "Gain power. Take over the region. And you're doing it under the mask of a legitimate corporation. But guess what: we're gonna see through you. You won't get away with this."

"We'll see about that," Mars said, smirking – she bought it. "Anyways, clearly you're an annoying brat who doesn't know her place, so here are the stakes. If I lose, Galactic leaves the premises. _When_ you lose, you leave the premises."

"Deal," I said.

"Keep on working; this sideshow's not for you," Charon told the Windworks keeper, who was watching. Shooting Charon a tired look, the keeper turned back to the screen.

"Zubat."

"Trust, it's yours." I nodded to him, and he darted out.

"Bite."

"Wait on it, then mach punch. Follow with ember."

They were a pair of blurs, the exchange lasting maybe a second. Trust blasted a second ember, knocking the zubat from the sky.

 _Arceus, he even beat Mars's in a few blows._

"Purugly, fake out."

"Take the hit. Mach punch."

He flinched when Purugly clapped her paws in front of his face, but came back strong. Purugly was still close by when Trust returned to his senses and charged in with a mach punch. The cat tumbled and rolled back onto his feet.

"Fury swipes."

"Mach punch."

But I'd forgotten how lethal that Purugly's fury swipes were. Trust yelled, claws scraping his face and hands.

"C'mon, mach punch…"

He struck out blindly in the direction of the claws, punching Purugly square in the nose. It made an ugly sound. Purugly fell back, nose bleeding.

"Ember!"

And he was down.

"Return," Mars said, sounding stunned. I jogged over to Trust; the scrapes weren't too deep, but they had to hurt.

"Thanks, Trust," I whispered, pulling him back into his pokeball.

"Beaten by a kid," Charon chuckled.

"You hush. We're moving out." Mars glared at me. "Things will be different next time. I can promise you that."

She stalked out as promised, Charon close behind.

The keeper stood, suddenly showing concern. "Is my daughter all right?"

"Team Galactic didn't touch her. She should be fine," I reassured him.

We practically chased Galactic out in our hurry to reach the exit. When the keeper reached the main entrance, a small creature shot through the door at him. I whipped out Trust's pokeball before realizing it was a little girl.

The voice muffled by his lab coat said, "Daddy, you're okay!"

"Annie…" His voice was about to choke. Putting away the pokeball, I slipped out the door to give them privacy.

"Wait!"

The little girl ran after me. "Are those people gonna do more bad things?"

"They have plans to, yes."

"Oh…" Annie looked let down. "Are you gonna stop them?"

"That's what I'm aiming for."

"I want to come too."

I shook my head quickly. "It's dangerous. And your dad wants you to stay safe."

"What about your dad?"

"I'm a trainer. It's a dangerous thing to be. He understands I'm doing my best to stay unharmed."

But he couldn't help but worry anyways. Looking at this girl and her father, I understood that. He couldn't help but worry – it was in his nature. He couldn't help but _care_.

"Then… I'll help this way," she said, running to the riverside. "BUIIIIIIIZELLLLLLLLL–"

A splash upstream. The pokemon swam over and surfaced next to Annie. She started to talk to the buizel quietly.

"She's been friends with that buizel since she was crawling," her dad told me. "Which has only been a few years, but still most of her life."

Annie and the buizel approached us. "Buizel's gonna help you fight the bad guys."

"Whoa, what?"

"I can't go," she explained, "but he can. Take him with you."

"Is… Are you okay with that?" I addressed the buizel. He nodded solemnly.

"You need to hurry to catch them," Annie urged me.

Suddenly conscious of my heart beating, I pulled a ball from the pocket I hadn't touched since I first filled it with empty pokeballs. I presented it to him; he touched his nose to the button, and the pokeball sucked him in.

* * *

I held the sides of my head as the line connected. This wasn't going to be fun.

Megan picked up first and started to speak, but I cut her off. "Let's wait for Tricia," I said.

"Her internship started tonight, remember?"

"Oh," I said, "Right. Of course."

I silently cancelled Tricia's end of the call.

"Are you in Jubilife already?" Megan asked.

"Floaroma."

I watched her do the calculations. "That's over forty miles from Oreburgh, isn't it?"

"41 from Oreburgh to Floaroma." Calculated out of curiosity-slash-waiting for Trust to go through the heal station.

"But you hadn't battled Roark by last night."

"Yeah."

"What time does the gym open?"

"10."

"41 miles in 14 hours?"

"45 miles."

"45?"

"Took an excursion to the Valley Windworks. 2 miles from Floaroma."

"Did you ever stop?"

"Several times."

"Then… you ran."

"Partway."

"How far is partway." She did not ask it.

"Jubilife onwards."

She was staring away from the screen in a way that made me think there was a map. "Did you find Dawn and Lucas?"

"Yeah."

"And now they're…"

"Jubilife."

"But you met up with them?"

"Yeah."

"Do they know you're in Floaroma?"

"I… Maybe."

"You didn't tell them."

"Yeah."

"Yeah, you didn't tell them?"

"Didn't tell them."

Megan turned back to the screen with the camera. "Evelyn, what's going on?"

"Nothing."

"I've _noticed_. I'm one of your best friends for a reason."

Annie and her dad popped into my mind. "I know," I sighed. "I'm not ready to say it yet."

Megan looked at me sadly. "All right… But when you are, talk to me."

"Kay."

"So what's happened lately?" Megan moved on.

"Since last night? Well… I beat Roark really fast this morning. Then we went at a normal pace to Jubilife, and I started running after that."

She made a face. "Why?"

"I'll… tell you next time I call."

"Go on."

"So then I got to the Windworks and did what I needed to do there, and this little girl recruited a buizel for me."

"Wait, you mean…"

"I have a buizel now."

"Oh, cool. Did you name him?"

"Not yet. I asked if he had a name, and he kinda considered it for a sec and then shook his head. Usually that means the pokemon has a name that can't physically be pronounced. So I've heard," I added quickly.

"Wow, you're a conscious trainer," she commented.

"…huh?"

"Thinking about your pokemon to that degree."

"Well… yeah. I'm supposed to care about them. As a trainer."

Megan shrugged. "Sure."

I thought of something and smiled a little. "Likewise with friends."

"What?"

"Nothing."

There was a pause while we both tried to figure out what to say.

"Megan?"

"Yeah?"

I kept trying to word it in my head. "If… If something happened to me and… for whatever reason I stopped talking to you… would we still be friends?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like if something happened. And then I didn't call you for a month."

"Like if you got sick and couldn't talk to me?"

"No. If I didn't call you of my own accord. Chose not to."

"Evelyn," she said, "You'd still be my best friend. If anything comes up, you can always talk to me."

 _Arceus_ , Megan. "Okay."

"…is there something you want to tell me?"

"Hm– Oh, not right now, it was…" Technically it had already happened. "…hypothetical."

"Oh, okay."

"So… how are things in Twinleaf?"

Not much was happening in Twinleaf, so we ended the call fairly soon.

 _Eterna_ , I decided. _I'll tell her there._


	8. Promise

Let's face it: Floaroma and Jubilife are close compared to other towns, but they're still sixteen miles apart. Add that to me being exhausted after the night before. Reeeeeally didn't want to backtrack.

 _…Later, Lucas._

It was great knowing I was strong enough to beat Galactic singlehandedly, though. Trust would have no problem against Gardenia. Hopefully the buizel wouldn't come into play, though I'd train him in case.

Oh yeah. Had to name the buizel.

For inspiration, I brought them out on the way out of Floaroma. Training. I'd watched other pokemon use flame wheel before, so I taught Trust the steps involved. The buizel I told to shoot water forward as far as he could, so he'd have a more forceful watergun. We approximated the distance with steps; he gained 12 steps over the course of an hour.

Around the rocky hills above the riverside, I figured flame wheel out.

"Wait, Trust, you need to use your tailflame too," I said, "cause otherwise you only get half the fire you need for a wheel."

He tried that out. Nope.

"From your mouth, think pure heat, rather than chunks of embers."

Trust spat some embers from his mouth, then more embers, then some flame.

"Like that!"

He went for it: leaped into a somersault, heightening his tailflame and breathing somewhat real fire. He hurtled forward in a genuine flame wheel. I cheered, then realized he was zooming toward a cliff edge.

"Trust! Stop!"

The buizel shot forward like a bullet, passing the rolling monferno and swerving around at him. Trust barreled right into him, and both tumbled back from the collision. The buizel was holding his head.

"You guys okay?"

Trust was fine. The buizel nodded, still clutching his head.

"What if you inflated your air sac when you collided with something?"

He shrugged awkwardly, like there was a problem with that.

"You could try it out sometime, anyway. Let's keep going."

* * *

"Okay," I decided, "We're gonna go rock climbing."

Because we'd made it to the little inn by the forest, and it was late afternoon and we had time to kill. It was always best to start a forest in the morning; it minimized the nights spent in the woods. Besides, rock climbing was a useful skill to have, seeing as Galactic's final destination was the biggest mountain in Sinnoh.

After Trust's near cliff dive, the day had been fairly uneventful. I'd started formulating what I'd say to Megan, but my thoughts escalated really quickly ("so Lucas died and I internally died with him and subsequently cut everyone out of my life") so I trained with Trust and the still-nameless buizel to take my mind off it. I was teaching Trust flamethrower (it was closely related to flame wheel anyways) and the buizel aquajet (water energy in front, swim towards the source). Trust kept getting bits of embers in his fire, but he was learning quickly. The buizel was having difficulties placing the energy source – he put it too close to his mouth and did a reverse aquajet once, which ended in a detour into the bushes as he emptied his stomach of water – but he'd figure it out.

I was starting to feel it again: the Trainer vibe. That swing of things. What I'd given up on after Lake Valor. It's the feel for the job. Funny how you can miss something terribly, and only realize it after it's back.

Oh, and there was the backpacker. He had a machop (typical) and a geodude (also typical). I got the buizel to fight, because I knew Trust could handle it.

The machop packed a punch, so after the first hit I made sure the buizel kept his distance, mostly going with waterguns. I got him to charge up a waterpulse, too, since the machop was slow (focus the energy source, make it grow, fling). Buizel ended up knocking out the machop with a quick attack from behind.

The geodude whipped up a sandstorm straightaway. "Close your eyes. Watergun, spin in a circle," I said, serious fight mode on. He hesitated before doing it, but executed the move just fine. It's one of those you-can't-evade-me type moves (obviously not true, but you've got to be a fairly experienced trainer to know the trick). Took the geodude down in one hit.

So, yeah. Here we were rock climbing now. Trust scaled the cliff wall as if it was horizontal. The buizel eyed the wall and reached up for a hold. Finding himself too short, he jumped, this huuuge jump, and landed on his feet on a narrow ledge over my head. But he couldn't get a handhold fast enough, and ended up falling over backwards. He executed a backflip that would have been impressive had he not landed on his back. The flotation sac around his neck inflated post-tumble.

I laughed something between a giggle and a chuckle. He shot me an annoyed look and I sobered up quickly.

 _Right, they're not used to minor pain yet._

With a short sigh, I glanced back up to check on Trust. He was almost at the top. "Hey, you're good. You don't have to go farther," I called up.

He yelled a monkey taunt back and kept climbing.

I slid my backpack from my shoulders and set it to the side. Rock climbing wasn't my favorite, but it was a necessary evil.

My hand grasped the warm, rough surface of the rock above me. I found another handhold, then a foothold. Making slower progress than Trust, I gradually gained height.

 _How high am I, actually?_

I looked down.

 _Holydamnholydamnholydamn_.

I felt my palms get cold, and I let go of one hand to wipe it on my jacket. Enough time to slip.

Falling sucks. And it's short. Throat tenses, can't scream. Usually it doesn't feel wet, though.

It took me a bit to understand, and at that point I landed on my back with a soft thud, which was nothing like you'd expect after a twenty foot fall. Also, my back was soaked.

"Bui?"

It was the first time I'd heard him speak. He was watching me. "Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks."

What ran through my head was the promise I never made to Megan and Tricia. The staying safe one.

I asked the buizel if he was okay with the name. He liked it, even after I warned it was usually a female name.

* * *

We spent the night at the little inn and headed towards the forest. Trust and Promise chatted on the way there. It could have been about anything.

"Mon, mon, monferno, mon."

"Buizel."

…literally anything.

Around 10 am we left the hills for good and entered Eterna Forest. I knew these woods well. My mom and dad used to take me on vacation here, and the only parts we'd never been through were the easiest parts to navigate, last time around.

Owen was in late Eterna someplace. I didn't really need another fire type, logically, but that was okay. I was still looking forward to seeing him again. Liana would have to wait until I found Quasar and taught him fly.

But it would happen. That much I was sure of.

The scent of damp wood and earth flooded my lungs as I breathed in fresh forest air. It had drizzled in the woods the night before, but the chances of rain today were low. Trust had lowered his tailflame without me asking him to; Promise was wandering ahead but staying reasonably close. It amazed me how I had picked up such mature pokemon.

We walked down the pavement until we hit the slightly more obscure dirt path. A few minutes in, we reached a small clearing. A trainer sat on a fallen tree, their face hidden by a map. The trainer's hair reminded me of Lucas's, dark with flecks that sparkled in the light. Lucas's looked softer than this, but the similarity warmed me nonetheless.

The trainer must have been completely absorbed in the map; only after we passed by did he say, "Oh, wait, excuse me–"

I turned around. He asked, "Do you know where…"

He stopped, partly because he recognized me, partly because he realized I recognized him. "Have I met you before?"

I was still trying to figure it out. "Yeah…"

Ohh.

Jubilife. The trainer who rescued me, the one in the blue and gray stripes. He was wearing that sweatshirt now, under a black raincoat.

"You, uh, helped me out in Jubilife."

The connection spread across his face. "Oh yeah… how's your hand?"

The one I punched a wall with. "It healed."

"That's good."

"Yeah."

There was a silence. Dislike for this guy who'd just reminded me of my newfound comparative weakness surged through my stomach. Trust and Promise watched, waiting for me.

"Well, nice seeing you," I told him, turning and continuing on my way.

"Wait–"

I turned back around coldly, though he seemed really sheepish about it. "I've been lost in this forest for days. Which way is Eterna?"

I gave him an incredulous look. "On the opposite end of the woods. It's that way–" I pointed. "–but you'll have to take twists and turns in other directions to get there."

He looked distraught. "Ugh… Is that where you're going?"

"Where else."

I hated him for not sounding guilty when he pitched his bright idea:

"Could I travel with you?"

I paused. Holy damn. The walking, talking reminder of what happened in Jubilife, crossing the forest with me. What a waste of a beautiful three, four days.

"I'll keep your pokemon in good health," he offered.

"I've got my own supplies," I said, a bit offended.

The main problem was it seemed wrong to refuse. On the bright side, though, this could be me repaying him for saving me. No debts owed. Rescue forgotten.

"Sure thing. Come on," I agreed at last.

He visibly relaxed. "Thanks – I'm Thomas."

"Evelyn." He was reaching out for a handshake. I pretended not to notice.


	9. Two Days in a Forest

We established a pattern, I suppose – him following about ten feet behind, my pokemon jumping around and burning energy in the vicinity, neither me nor Thomas speaking. Trust kept glancing at me in confusion, like he wanted to know what was going on between us. Promise didn't question it.

This went on for a few hours.

"Why aren't there pokemon around?" I could hear the Johto in his voice.

I looked blandly at him. "Did you _want_ to see pokemon?"

"It's weird they haven't shown up at all."

I turned so I was facing forward. "It's cause we're on a busy trail."

"Say it again?"

I said over my shoulder, "This trail is used a lot by trainers and tourists. Most pokemon avoid this one."

"But not all."

"Sure. The starlies like to be fed."

"Ah."

Back to silence. This one was shorter.

"But you're a new trainer."

"So?" Wow, thanks for reminding me.

"You're not interested in seeing a ton of pokemon? Pokedex research?"

"There are few pokemon we don't have sufficient data on, none of which are found in a forest like this."

"But you could still be around pokemon." I gestured in response at the two rascals making the underbrush dance. "I mean _other_ pokemon. Wild ones. You're losing a great experience."

"I've met pokemon before. Especially in these woods. Came here all the time when I was little."

He nodded, accepting my reasoning. "You're not interested in catching any?"

"Later. There's, ah, an arca– I mean, growlithe pack around the Eterna side of the woods."

"Wait, even though–"

"Yes," I interrupted. Even though I had a monferno.

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Ohh. I see." He nodded in understanding.

"What?"

"You're the kind of person who plans out their team. You're dead set on the rest of your team. I'm guessing you wanted the grass starter."

"Water." But the rest was true.

"Close enough." Thomas pulled a water bottle from his backpack. "Just don't be too worried about what you plan out. Cause things change."

I cringed. That's what I didn't want.

"Hey," he said, noticing my expression, "It's just for fun. People always say it's a game, being a trainer. I mean sure, it's for research and learning about pokemon and stuff, but ultimately it's all fun."

"All fun and games 'til someone gets killed," I said under my breath.

"Hm?"

"Don't worry about it."

It was past noon, so we rested our legs and ate lunch. He was apparently unprepared for a journey longer than four days, so I gave him half a sandwich. In around twenty minutes, we headed off again.

We spoke on and off during the afternoon. He was the youngest of his family, and despite looking much older, he only had me by one year. I brought up the subject of his five badges and one year.

"What about it?"

"Is that regular for Johto? It's just kinda slow for Sinnoh…"

"Oh." He looked down. "To be honest, it's even slower in Johto. Your fifth gym is rated stronger than ours. I went back to Ecruteak all the time to visit my girlfriend."

"Couldn't you vidcall?"

"I guess. She'd have to go to the library, though, and the library usually closed right when I reached a town–"

"Still more convenient than going home all the time."

"Doesn't matter anymore. Can't do it from here."

"You can vidcall more easily, because of the time difference."

"I mean I can't visit."

"I know, I'm just saying you can vidcall."

Thomas shrugged. "I don't need to. We broke up."

"Oh." Well. Surprise.

He was quiet, and when I glanced over he had a downcast look on his face.

"Whoa, don't get all down about it," I said, startled. "You guys didn't work out for a reason."

He breathed a laugh. "She said me visiting her was holding me back."

"Which it was." The impact of his statement came over me gradually. "She did it because of that? That's really noble of her."

"I guess."

Enough of that. "Anyway. I've seen your noctowl. Who else is on your team?"

He frowned for some reason, but said, "I'll introduce you next time we stop. Some of them might trample the forest."

We were in a dense patch of undergrowth at the time. "Okay. You've met all of my team," I said, nodding at Trust and Promise. They'd burned off energy and were walking at a leisurely pace, talking again.

"Yeah. Do you have older siblings?"

"I – No."

"Has anyone in your family trained before?"

I shot him a suspicious look. "My uncle."

"Do you see your uncle a lot?"

"Not often."

He puzzled it over. "Kay."

* * *

We set up camp at the foot of Rapitail Falls, a 200-foot cascade that fell into a disproportionally tiny pool, drained by a pair of streams. After taking turns in the waterfall, we fell asleep in our sleeping bags.

Thomas fell asleep right away, but I had trouble getting there – which was unusual, for me. Eventually I gave up and went on a walk.

I wandered down the stream (an easy path to follow back). It grew wider as it traveled down the gentle forest slope. The water bubbled softly, like a lullaby.

 _Row, row, row your boat  
Gently down the stream,  
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,  
Life is but a dream_

A pokemon swooped over my head, but I didn't flinch. I breathed in the fresh, cold night air.

As I walked, I heard voices from the other side of the stream. Curious, I stepped across on the drier rocks.

With a savage hiss, a pokemon with glowing red eyes dove at me out of nowhere. I gave a strangled scream and slipped from the rocks, falling facefirst at a jagged boulder–

The world went dark. But I was breathing, and alive, and if I looked closely I could make out the filtered moonlight reflecting off Thomas's glasses.

I groaned. Another night, another nightmare. Thomas was sleeping with his back to me. Shifting so I mirrored him, I wondered why the peaceful little lake pokemon haunted me still.

Besides, you know, the obvious.

* * *

He was already packing up when I woke up again, which surprised me. I thought I was pretty good about not needing much sleep anymore.

"Morning," said Thomas.

"Morning."

It was a foggy morning that turned into a misty noon. We traveled down the same stream I had traversed in my dreams. Besides a sturdy wooden bridge growing moss on its edges, we never crossed it.

"So you've been here before?" Thomas asked conversationally.

I nodded. "This was my favorite place to vacation when I was little. We used to rent a room in the Lodge and go hiking every day. When I was seven we came in the winter and tried to hike up to Spring Falls, but it was completely icy. I was complaining the entire time about how we were going to die, and at the very end my dad slipped and fell on his butt."

"Camping out is new to you, then?"

I started to shake my head, but remembered I'd only camped before in an alternate reality. "My mom didn't like camping, so we never went together. But I camped in Oreburgh Gate, on the way here," I added, saving myself.

"Cave camping's a lot different."

"I can tell already."

"Which do you prefer so far?"

"Forest," I said immediately.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"You're a lot more exposed when you camp in a forest."

I nodded. "I'm okay with it. The forest is alive; caves feel dead."

An echoing image of a boy – dead – lying in a damp cave made me shudder. "So, uh," I said, trying to change the topic, "What's Johto's forest like?"

"Ilex?" Thomas paused. "It's pretty straightforward. If you take a wrong turn you won't figure it out for days, but there's really only three or four wrong turns to take. Not like this." He spread his arms to indicate the entire forest.

"Eterna's not that bad."

"Yeah, well. You haven't been here for six days."

"It's only been five and a half, for you. And I've been here many times before."

"Then that's why!"

"I bet if I went to Ilex I'd get lost."

"I bet you wouldn't. We still send in ten-year-olds."

"You what?" I said, surprised.

"Ten-year-olds are still eligible to become trainers, in Johto."

"The heck…?"

"As far as I know, it's just Sinnoh with a higher minimum age."

"How do you guys choose, then?"

"Whoever wants to be a trainer goes through a registration process. Paperwork and testing. That's about it."

I let it sink in. "I can't tell if that's really nice or really dumb."

"Me neither. But Sinnoh's system bothers me because of the upper age constraint. It's fourteen to eighteen to start, right?"

"By the official procedure, yeah."

"Yeah, I'm almost eighteen and it seems odd to end the starting age there."

"Oh, when's your birthday?"

"October. When's yours?"

"Ap–" I started coughing violently to get time to think. It was April… but was it still?

"Are you okay?"

I finished my coughing fit. "Yeah. Uh, it's a secret."

"You were going to say April."

"No I wasn't."

"Yes you were."

"I was going to say it's a secret. And then I started coughing."

"But you–"

"Anyway, trainers are welcome to start later than 18; it's just not the League-based program."

At that point, we reached a fairly large clearing in the forest. "Oh look," I said, "This means it's break time."

We stopped for lunch on a gentle grassy slope, me digging into my third-day supplies already. I could live off berries fine, but I didn't know if Thomas could, and I didn't want to ask because that would key him into the fact that I could live off berries, which usually only trainers can do. Meaning, trainers with practice. Though I'm sure I'd dropped enough clues to my past as it was. Ugh.

"You never did introduce me to your team," I mentioned, biting off a piece of a cracker.

"Oh," he said in surprise, reaching into his pockets. With a well-practiced flick, he let out a bunch all at once. Silvery streams of energy solidified into a quilava, noctowl – Silver – sandslash, flaafy, and absol.

(It's not unusual for a trainer to keep their pokemon in the ball for days. The balls have some interesting techno thing that allows the pokemon to stay healthy in there for longer. It's mostly just an issue of claustrophobia and fresh air and exercise).

"Cassie, Silver who you know, Swaine, Esther, Marcassin."

"Mar-what?"

"Marcassin. Mar-ca-san."

"Ah, very good. Hi, I'm Evelyn," I greeted them. The quilava and flaafy gave their hellos loudly, Silver vocally but softer, the sandslash and Marcassin the absol tacitly nodded. I could sense the wide range of personalities already, but the comfortable way they stood in a group indicated that they were very ok with each other at worst, close friends at best.

"Wow," I said softly. His team was a _team_.

"What?"

"Wait, there's five?"

"Something wrong with that?"

"No, it's just rare."

"Well, I've got five."

The flaafy suddenly bleated loudly at him. Thomas looked exasperated. "Esther, shh, it's okay." She baaed again, sounding annoyed.

"Fine, Esther." Turning to me, he said, "There's a sixth. But he's my secret weapon, and I can't just pull him out all the time."

"Weapon?" I made a face of disgust.

"Not like that," he said, "Not like a tool. Like the team member who's the last resort, but really great. Secret weapon in a team context. Like, uh, a super slow pitcher in baseball. Harder to hit off than you'd think."

"I get it, I get it. Don't you ever take him out of the pokeball?"

"All the time. Just not around people."

"There's no one else around."

"No."

"What's wrong with me?"

"I might battle you someday."

"You're four badges ahead of me," I said, surprised.

"In Sinnoh, we're the same," Thomas said.

"That makes you five badges ahead, total."

"Well you see," he said, digging in his bag for pokemon food, "the difference is that there's something about you that's different. You're just unnaturally good at being a trainer."

My stomach clenched nervously. "How so?"

"Just little things you do or say. Referring to pokemon like people. Having both your pokemon out of the pokeball constantly. You've got no interest whatsoever in catching 'em all." He located the box of food and opened it up.

"Catchemalls are ridiculous–"

"See? Things that make you a good trainer. They give you a head start. We'll battle someday, you watch."

"This implies we're going to keep in touch after this."

Thomas paused in the middle of filling a paper bowl with pokechow. "We're on the same badge route. We'll probably see each other around."

Trust and Promise, who were exploring the clearing, finally noticed the other pokemon and scampered over to where we were. The seven started chatting, and I filled up some bowls of food for Trust and Promise.

"Why didn't we see each other–" I stopped myself before I could say "last time."

"What?" Thomas prompted.

I scanned my brain for a solution and came up with nothing. "Nope," I said, getting up, "I'm out. No idea how to explain this one. Nope."

Feeling dumb, I walked to the edge of the clearing, where I could hide for a bit. _Wow._

* * *

The rest of the day went by thankfully uneventfully, except for the point where Thomas stepped in a hole.

"AH MEW THAT'S A NINCADA HOLE."

"DUDE RUN!"

"OW!"

"GET SILVER OUT!"

"WHAT?"

"SILVER!"

"WH–

"DO YOU WANT TO LIVE?"

Fortunately he got Silver out in time, and we managed to get away from the angry nincadas despite Thomas's swelling ankle. He held on to Silver's legs and ran like he had a crutch hanging from the sky.

He asked later, "Why Silver?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean why not Marcassin or Swaine? They could have helped me, too."

"Your absol and…?"

"Sandslash."

"Too much underbrush, very few tree trunks. Silver could fly more conveniently than they could run."

"But you knew the flying-running trick?"

I threw my hands in the air. "Oh no, I'm acting like I know what I'm doing again. Shoot me."

"Wow, calm down."

Our best location to camp that night was just alongside the stream, at a spot where the trees let up. We went into the river one at a time again, and went to sleep.

It was a cold night – I'd pulled Promise and Trust into their pokeballs because of the cold. I didn't realize how cold until I opened my eyes and saw white dust floating down like ashes, surprisingly bright for nighttime.

Closing my eyes and rolling over, I suddenly felt myself falling, tumbling over the edge of the river bank, except it was way too high to be a river bank, and below was snow, the kind of snow that could either cushion your fall or cover up rocks that would break your bones, and at the bottom I saw Dawn, her face pale, leg jutting out funny, bleeding where bone broke through flesh. The ground zoomed up–

I awoke this time with a clenched moan, sounding like a whimper. A flashlight snapped off suddenly. Thomas was awake.

"Bad dream?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," I groaned. My vision adjusted; I could see he was holding a square of paper in his hand.

"Do you want to talk?"

"No," I said harshly.

"Okay."

I exhaled. "Sorry, I… it's too much to explain."

"Okay."

I rolled over, hoping there wasn't a cliff behind me. Thomas must have thought I fell asleep sooner than I did, because he turned the flashlight back on not long later. I didn't ask what he was looking at. If I didn't tell him about my dream, he didn't have to tell me about this.

* * *

 **The Spring Falls anecdote is a true story about my sister and my dad one year. It's not called Spring Falls, and Rapitail Falls obviously isn't the real name either, but Eterna Forest is basically a mashup of all my favorite forests.**

 **Bonus points to whoever can guess where Thomas's pokemon's names are from ;) Hint: It's my favorite video game that I've never played.**

 **Hope you enjoyed this somewhat long chapter (making up for last week :P). See you next week~**


	10. Night Three

I woke up to sunlight creeping into my face over the trees across the river. Arceus, it was late.

"Morning," said Thomas, attaching his sleeping bag to his backpack. Trust nudged his head into my hand. I scratched it, smiling.

"Morning. How's your ankle?"

"It's okay. I wrapped it."

I crawled out of the sleeping bag and rolled it up. By the time I finished cleaning up my things and getting ready to move on, he'd been done for ages.

The day went by about the same as the first two. We talked. I kept dropping hints about my past by accident. We came to the end of my food and I finally asked about the berries – he said he'd lived on berries before, thank Arceus. There was one point where we had to climb up a little cliff – six feet or so – but it wasn't too bad. Mostly because I didn't look down.

It was also training day. There were several hours of treeless sky, in which Trust could practice the beginnings of a flamethrower. Promise raced up and down the rocks on the river, slowly at first, getting faster. Thomas let out Silver to maneuver through the thicker part of the trees next to us.

Another trainer finally crossed our path, but I beat her in a battle easily and we parted in under fifteen minutes.

We kept walking after sunset, because we hadn't found any food since midmorning. Thomas and I had flashlights out, and Trust and Promise – presumably – were asleep in their pokeballs.

"…so what's your favorite berry?" he asked me, in a sort of ironic attempt at conversation.

"Aspear. Yours?"

"Pecha."

I laughed. "When she was a piplup, Bree had an obsession for those."

Silence.

"ARCEUS ALMIGHTY."

"Whoa, calm down," Thomas said, stunned. "Who's Bree?"

"Who's Bree?" I echoed, "Who's Bree indeed? She's Kenna, she doesn't exist anymore, and now I sound insane. Arceus."

I turned away angrily, searching a nearby bush for berries.

Something touched my shoulder. "It's okay," he said.

If only.

"It's ridiculous," I told him hoarsely. "I just… This is so ridiculous. Watching my speech and messing up all the time. I don't even know if it's worth it."

Thomas patted my shoulder and asked if I wanted to call it a day. I said sure.

When we set up camp, though, I couldn't fall asleep. For real this time; I was very certain it wasn't a dream. It wasn't the emptiness in my stomach, either – it was exasperation over trying and failing to hide any and all of my past, mixed with a vague sense of forgetting something.

I focused on the latter. It was night three in the forest. Okay. We were going a little faster than I'd gone last year, surprisingly enough. But then we were both more accustomed to traveling for long hours by now.

I couldn't call home or Megan and Tricia until I reached a city. That couldn't be it. I pulled out Looker's journal and scanned the pages with my poketch light; nothing happened on this day in history. Maybe something to do with Trust or Promise…?

Oh.

We were close to the growlithe pack.

The pack of growlithes Owen came from had been relatively close to the old chateau when I found them. We couldn't be far now – maybe a mile away, max.

I glanced over at Thomas. He was fast asleep.

Maybe…

I mean, no use bothering him. Or wasting his time tomorrow. And I wanted to get a move on.

Sliding out of my sleeping bag, I picked up Trust and Promise's pokeballs. It was a warm night, so I left my jacket behind. I took a spare pokeball from my bag, turned on my flashlight, and didn't look back.

It was as easy as I remembered. My parents and I had come here maybe once before, but it was one of the easiest parts of the woods to figure out.

A tingling sensation tickled the back of my neck. Whirling around, I didn't see anyone. Stupid paranoia.

I kept walking. The chateau came into view within twenty minutes of walking, looming tall and gray over the narrow clearing. Stopping to take a satisfied breath, I scanned for signs of growlithe. I turned around to scan behind me.

There was a giant face.

"GYAH TRUST!"

My monferno appeared, ready to fight the – oops, the ghost type. "Wait, return," I said, pulling his pokeball back out.

The air around them turned an iridescent purple, like they were enclosed in a bubble. Trust whipped his head around bewilderedly, seeing what I couldn't. The gastly giggled.

"Ugh, not mean look," I groaned. "Trust, ember her."

She disappeared before it hit, reappearing behind him and sending a chain of glowing gold rings into Trust's back. He toppled forward, asleep.

"Trust, wake up! Trust!"

The gastly shot a dark crimson beam of energy at Trust, hitting him in the back. I reached for my bag for an Awakening, but of course I'd _left my bag_.

"Trust, come on…"

He did wake up, but too late – no sooner had he done so than the gastly nailed him with a final night shade, knocking him out.

No one had ever knocked out my Trust.

Red chills sank into the back of my neck and head. "You asked for it," I growled. "Watergun!" I threw Promise's pokeball out.

She wasn't prepared for that one, apparently. But she proceeded to disappear and recreate the mean look bubble for Promise, and then send a pair of too-bright stars at him. Promise stumbled backward, confused.

"Watergun, you can do it."

Promise pulled it off and hit her successfully, but tripped over a rock and banged his head on the ground. Another nightshade hit him.

"Promise, _spin_."

Somehow this part of the command made it through, and he started spinning on the ground. Not even the gastly could evade the wild streams of water. Battered, she shot out one final nightshade before falling to the ground.

A pokeball shot through the air. I knew I'd thrown it; I wasn't sure why. Thoughts of revenge were still running through my head.

The pokeball twitched once, twice, thrice, done. I retrieved it. "Thanks, Pro–"

A watergun attack nailed my face. "Return," I coughed. I'd forgotten he was still confused.

Between two unconscious pokemon and one barely-conscious buizel, there was no way I'd be able to fight a growlithe pack that night, much less catch one without any pokeballs. Although I had caught a new pokemon tonight – yay…?

Twisting water out of my hair, I started back for the camp.

My poketch said it was one in the morning. It also said I was in Eterna Forest, which made me grumpy.

"Never would've guessed," I grumbled.

Having zero pokemon in any condition to fight turned the night into a war zone. I wasn't afraid of the dark, but logically I knew there were pokemon out there, nocturnal or sleeping, who were viciously territorial. Walking toe-first to minimize the noise I made (not that the pokemon couldn't still hear me), I made steady progress back towards the camp.

The wind suddenly picked up, stirring the forest around me into a sea of whirling leaves. I held still, letting loose bits of foliage brush against my face and arms, until the wind died down a little. Shivering, I picked up the pace, glancing nervously behind me in case any pokemon were there.

Suddenly I was caught. Stuck. Confusion tumbled through my head until I realized scattered parts of me were stuck more than others, like I'd walked head-on into a net that was sticky.

 _What the literal hell?_

Trust was unconscious. As was the damned gastly. Promise was barely there. How do you get someone out of a web with water?

As I stood contemplating my options, the bushes nearby shuffled. An ariados emerged.

 _Arceus, no time to think, get Promise out–_

I reached toward my belt and found the web made reaching back impossible. Further attempts only tangled my arm in the string. "Promise," I said nervously, "Promise, I need you."

The pokeball didn't respond.

"Promise–"

Something flew at me – the ariados, which had been creeping closer, shot a clump of sticky string at the web to my left. She crawled through the web, pulling the mass of web along with her. I figured out what she was doing. I dug my heels into the ground and pulled back, trying to stretch the web out. The ariados circled around in front of me and pulled the web taut, squeezing my ribs. She circled around again, slowly squeezing tighter. I breathed as hard as possible, stocking up on oxygen while looking frantically for a way out.

Pain built up steadily in my ribs as my breaths grew shorter. After five or six loops, my lungs were running out of air and I could find nothing in my vicinity to get me out. My head started to grow fuzzy.

 _But Lucas…?! I've got to...to..._

The restraints around my chest suddenly fell free, cut from the back. I gasped for air, hanging limply from the web. The ariados hissed in displeasure, scuttling towards whatever had cut me loose. Clashing sounds of two pokemon fighting rang through the air, but not for long; one was clearly stronger and more practiced. Running footsteps darted at me, one set faster than the other.

"Are you okay?"

Immediately a chill shot through me, as if I was still in danger. Not him. Anyone but him.

"Evelyn?"

"I'm fine," I said.

Thomas helped Marcassin cut me loose. I almost wondered how a dark-type absol had beaten a bug-type ariados so quickly, but I didn't want to think too hard about how the ariados was probably not even that strong to begin with. _Freaking_ hell.

"What happened?" Thomas asked, once he'd pulled the last of the spider silk off.

"I walked into a web. And ariados don't even _make_ webs." A terrifying thought occurred to me. "They don't even make webs. Someone's out there. The ariados didn't make the web. We have to go–"

"Whoa, easy, you're in shock–"

"I'm _perfectly coherent thank you very much_. We need to leave fast–"

"Spinarak build webs," Thomas said calmly. "This one might have just evolved. Nothing to worry about."

I calmed down slowly. "Let's get out of here anyways," I said, shaking him loose.

"Do you–"

" _No_."

We made our way back to camp, a stony silence on my end and a concerned one on his. He shouldn't have been concerned. I could handle myself perfectly well, except whenever _he_ was around.


	11. Out of the Woods

We passed the Old Chateau early the next morning. I didn't mention the growlithes. I'd go back later.

Thomas lightly cleared his throat. "What?" I said.

"I didn't say anyth–"

"Just say what you want to say."

He must've been embarrassed, because he paused before saying, "I was just going to ask what happened last night."

I frowned and looked him in the eye for the first time that day. "You were there."

"At the end. I don't know why you headed off in the first place."

I grimaced. "I was looking for that growlithe pack I mentioned a few days ago. Didn't find them."

"Did you want to look now?"

"Later." Not around him.

"You came back and fixed up a gastly's injuries. I don't remember seeing her before."

"She snuck up behind me. Ended up catching her instead."

"Ohh, I see. No wonder the other two were in such bad shape."

I didn't respond to that. It would have come out too nasty.

"How'd you know to come find me?" I asked instead.

"Marcassin woke me up and led me to you. Disaster pokemon instinct."

"Ah. Right."

We kept on walking.

"You know, you can talk to me," Thomas said suddenly. "It's obvious you have a lot on your mind."

"Thanks," I said sarcastically.

"I'm serious," he said sincerely.

"I'm not in the habit of trusting strangers."

"Apparently you're in the habit of traveling with them," he said under his breath.

I jumped; it was the first snarky thing I'd ever heard him say. "Hey, it was your idea, not mine. And I only agreed because I was trying to pay you back for what happened in Jubilife. So don't you go blaming me for this."

He seemed more startled than I was. "I – okay."

That was the last of our conversation. We left the forest around eleven and got to Eterna City shortly after. Having gone without eating for a bit over 24 hours, we tacitly agreed to get lunch at the Pokemon Center. We ate without once speaking, and he headed to the gym as soon as his pokemon were healed, since their "healing" was more of a checkup than anything. I restocked the supplies I needed while waiting for my pokemon to finish up their session.

"They were in pretty decent shape," the nurse said when she handed the three pokeballs back to me. "You did well with field-healing."

I mumbled a reply and headed upstairs to the showers.

I must have used up a Pastoria-Gym-sized battle pool's worth of water in the shower. The entire time, I was thinking about the call I needed to make, and how to explain to Megan what the hell had happened to me. I kept coming up with ways to begin ("I time-traveled back to September to save the world and save Lucas, because he dies in a few months." "You know how I asked what would happen if I suddenly stopped talking to you? It's because I did, but you don't know it." "So basically in order to save the world, I had to go back in time almost half a year."), but none of them felt right.

Traipsing downstairs in a clean Pokemon Center tank top and shorts (my clothes were all in the wash), I let myself into a vidcall room and slid the glass door shut. Within minutes, Megan was onscreen.

"Hey. Did you get to Eterna all right?"

"Mostly." My mood was still sour. "I had an incident last night. But I was traveling with someone. He got me out."

"Oh, okay. Glad you're all right."

"Yeah." Frankly, I was glad she didn't make a big deal of it.

"How's things?"

"Okay. I caught a gastly last night, but I haven't named her."

"Cool. Did you name your buizel?"

"Yeah. Promise."

She nodded.

"I should…" I trailed off. She was listening. "I should tell you about the thing."

Megan nodded. "Whenever you're ready."

I laughed a little to myself. Would I ever be ready. I stared down at my hands. My thumb found its way to my poketch.

"Everything I'm about to tell you," I said slowly, "is absolutely true. But don't say anything until I'm done."

"All right."

I slowly flipped to the app.

 _Good luck, Lyn. See you soon._

"I met someone in Jubilife several months ago," I said. "His name is Looker. He's an agent of the International Police, and he's investigating criminal activity from Galactic, Inc. In a few months' time, they'll be known as Team Galactic to the population, and they'll have dropped a bomb in Lake Valor. Which leads to them capturing Azelf, and Mesprit, and Uxie, and then they'll go to Spear Pillar to summon Palkia and Dialga. Their ultimate goal is to create a new world."

Megan looked a little overloaded, so I paused to let her take in the information I'd just thrown at her. I continued, "The reason I know this is because I'm involved in investigating them – well, more fighting them than investigating. So are Lucas and Dawn. Or they were, anyways… I should get them back in this, actually. But anyways, when the bomb went off at Lake Valor, we all happened to be in the same place. Professor Rowan sent me to Lake Verity, and I beat Mars – she's the, uh…" I tried to think of how to explain her. "They call themselves Administrators, or admins. Then I went to Valor, to join Lucas. But…"

This was the hard part. My shoulders and arms were starting to tremble. "… Galactic had created a device called the Red Chain, which controls pokemon. They… Saturn, another admin, activated it just before I arrived. So Lucas and I went into the cave on Valor's island to fight him."

I swallowed and tried to stop shaking. "Saturn was controlling Azelf with the Red Chain. Azelf attacked and Lucas and I started fighting him, but then Azelf took a hold of Lucas and–" shaking violently "–k-killed him."

I closed my eyes and tried to repress the quaking, breathing shakily but deeply, growing steadier. When I was calm enough, I opened my eyes. Megan hadn't interrupted me during all that, even when I was silent. Her gaze was still steady through the camera. I went on,

"I flew to Acuity after that, to help Dawn. She'd just lost, and Jupiter and I fought and ended in a tie. But Jupiter's team had gotten Uxie, and Galactic managed to get Mesprit too, and Jupiter pushed Dawn off a cliff and broke her leg. I cut off contact with just about everyone – you, Tricia, my parents. I didn't want to face all the sympathy.

"Looker figured out where Galactic was heading: Spear Pillar, on Mount Coronet. The legendary temple. The IP isn't allowed pokemon, so he sent me in. He gave me an app on my poketch, in case things went terribly wrong. It was developed by the IP. It's a time-travel app."

Realization spread across Megan's face – she finally saw where all this was going. "So things went badly, and I used the app. It sent me back to September, the morning of trainer selection. Somehow Dawn took my piplup, and I ended up with Lucas's chimchar. A lot's been different this time around. I never had a buizel or gastly. There was a shinx and a growlithe I still haven't caught. And the guy I traveled with in Eterna is new. So. Yeah."

I waited for Megan, but realized there was no way she'd believe it. I mean, okay, there _was_ , but for real. I sounded nuts.

"So… time travel?" she said, solidifying my suspicion.

"Yeah." My stomach sank a bit.

"Okay."

"What?" Stomach flying right back up.

"You wouldn't lie about something like that," she said. "I mean, that's a ton to make up, if you had. But you're also not a liar."

It wasn't relief flooding me so much as guilt, for doubting her capacity to believe. "Thanks."

"So… Crap, that's a lot. You… all that?"

"Don't start with the sympathy now," I warned, hearing her tone.

"Okay. But all that…" Megan thought about it, then said, "You could've just told us not to be all sorry for you. We could've helped anyway."

"You wouldn't have–"

"No," she cut in, "I realize you went through trauma that should be beyond capacity, but you can trust us not to worsen it. We'd do what you needed us to do."

The word "trust" resonated in my mind. If I could trust a monferno I'd known for a week and two days…

"I'm sorry."

Megan shook her head. "Just talk to us next time. If ever. Hopefully that won't happen again. But you know, if you're down or anything. Talk to us."

I smiled a little. "Yeah. I will."

We kept talking, and I explained all that happened a little further. It must have been an hour or two before we hung up. I felt so much better.

Promise and my new gastly trained together in the afternoon. She'd just about perfected the mean look plus confusion/sleep attack style, but her defense and evasion needed work. I taught her to evade the spinning trick I'd used on her the night before. It took her a while, but she caught on eventually.

"By the way," I said at the end of training, "Do you have a name?"

She nodded.

"What is it?"

"Faith!" she piped up. I hadn't heard her speak before, besides the giggling; her voice was a toddler's.

"Nice to meet you. Did I introduce myself? I'm Evelyn." We'd have shaken hands if her body wasn't poison.

I let out Trust to train a little, but since my only other pokemon were a water type and a ghost type, it didn't last long. We did general fitness for an hour, doing pushups and running through the short wooded path behind the Pokemon Center a few times and whatnot. Then we took the rest of the day off.

I took another shower (a quick one) and changed back into my own clean clothes. While my pokemon explored the play structure by the bike shop (the shop was empty – Galactic had already kidnapped the owner and his cleffa) I took a walk around the city.

Disregarding its Galactic Headquarters, Eterna City is probably the safest city in Sinnoh. Lowest crime rates, closest communities, and everyone's just happy that they live among so many flowers. I guess. I explored the gardens outside the gym, strolled past the Palkia statue in the town square, and walked through the residential area. The city was like one giant garden, with each neighbor specializing in flowers, bushes, trees of all kinds, shaping their individual styles.

Around five, I entered the marketplace. Eterna was one of those cities with an old-style, informal market rather than solid stores. They had those too, but they were in the downtown area.

The marketplace's wares ranged from fresh produce to small furniture, a cross between a farmers' market and a craft fair. I wandered the stands of bell peppers and wind chimes, looking at the odds and ends on sale.

A flash of purple caught my eye. I locked in on a woman in black speaking to an artist with a gold ring in his ear, who was stationed at the edge of the market. Precious stones lay scattered across the table, but what interested me was the woman's hair, which was in two purple-magenta ponytails. One high, one low. Too few people wore their hair in such a dumb fashion for this to be anyone else.

The woman turned briefly, confirming her identity. The artist led Jupiter into a building behind his stand. There were plenty of windows in that wall.

I scanned the stands. Paintings, shoes, pokemon food, wooden figurines, ukuleles, fishing rods. I quickly purchased a collapsible fishing pole and walked behind the stands. Ducking my head, I fumbled with the buckle on my poketch. Once it was detached, I set it to the voice record app, wrapped fishing line around it and tied a knot, and gently raised the end of the fishing pole.

The voice record app has an annoying habit of flashing a green light whenever it picks up on noise above, say, a typical marketplace setting. I held the end up to several windows in turn, waiting for the light to go off. A second-story window in the middle of the complex gave me what I was looking for. The light came in little bursts and pauses. I held the end of the rod just below the windowsill, watching the light closely. A minute and a half later, it stopped flashing. I collapsed the fishing rod, untangled my poketch, and put both in their proper places, the fishing rod in my bag and the poketch on my wrist.

Jupiter and the stone seller emerged from the doorway a moment later. The seller returned to his stand; Jupiter walked off in the general direction of the HQ.

I hurried to the bike shop to pick up my pokemon, then returned with them to the Pokemon Center. In my room, I played back the recording.

Static for a minute or two. The voices faded in as I found the window.

"… around Veilstone."

"Veilstone? We don't even need to go through you, then."

"Sure, sure," said the seller, "Except I've got information, too."

Jupiter's end was silent. "What sort of information?" she asked at last.

"About the process to make the Chain."

"We've got a fine process waiting to happen."

"Right, but you would cut the formation of the Chain down by months, with what I've got."

"Tell me now. We'll work out payment if your end is worthwhile."

A chair creaked. "Have you heard of the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs?"

"Heard of them. They were deemed useless in our research."

"Not so," said the seller. "The orbs, of course, are of Dialga and Palkia. The presence of the legends is supposed to facilitate the formation of the Red Chain. But you're going artificially rather than naturally, and going Chain first, pokemon later–"

"–the orbs would work in the place of the pokemon themselves," Jupiter finished for him.

"Precisely. Not as fast as the real deal. But a great deal faster than otherwise."

Chair legs scraping against the floor. "If this proves to be true, consider yourself paid."

"Sure, sure."

Silence. Then the sounds of me frantically disassembling my makeshift spy gear.

 _The orbs. I don't remember them being important last time. But maybe we just didn't realize it…_

I dialed Looker on my poketch. Promise and Trust were listening; they had been paying attention since I played the recording. Looker picked up the call.

"What is it?"

"Info. How safe is this call?"

"Not very. Wait for me."

"Where are you."

"Classified."

"Come on, give me a clue."

"I'll be there by tomorrow afternoon. Business."

"Right. See you then."

"See you."

Thumbing the end call button, I looked around the room, wondering what to do.

I gave my pokemon a lesson on type advantages, but as Promise seemed to know these already and Faith couldn't focus, I more or less just gave Trust a short crash course and, promising to return to the topic later, took a game of checkers out of the closet. Trust and I played, Promise giving suggestions and Faith periodically disappearing and jumping out of the checkerboard to scare the crap out of us.


	12. Poison

I was heading to the gym in the morning when I crossed paths with them.

"Evelyn!"

"Arceus, haven't seen you guys is hecka long," I said, grinning. Shifting to a more somber expression, I said, "Sorry I ditched you guys in Jubilife."

"It's okay, the nurse told us about it," Dawn said. "How's your family?"

"My… My aunt's fine. Had a stroke, but she's getting better. No serious side-effects."

"Oh, good."

"You guys heading to the Pokemon Center?"

"Yep."

"I'll join you after I hit the gym. You'll probably have to shower and stuff anyways."

"True that. Good luck," said Dawn.

"Thanks," I said. I waved at Lucas. He smiled and waved back.

As I walked away from them, I thought of how little Lucas and I had actually talked this time around. He wasn't exactly a loud person, but even at the beginning of our journeys last time he could talk to me easily. Usually one on one.

I glanced behind me at Dawn. She was talking. Lucas wasn't.

* * *

I fingered Trust's pokeball nervously. I knew I shouldn't be, but I was anxious over whether he'd be enough. Cause I was gambling everything on the type advantage.

 _Flipping heck, Evelyn. Trust, his name is Trust._

"This will be a three-on-three battle between the challenger, Evelyn Meyers of Twinleaf Town, and the gym leader Gardenia," said the ref. "The challenger may switch pokemon between rounds. Battle… Begin!"

"Turtwig, I choose you!"

"Trust, it's yours."

Turtwig against monferno. Hm. Dunno how that would play out.

"Turtwig, use razor leaf!"

"Flame wheel," I said.

Trust rolled forth, engulfed in fire – he still wasn't using enough tailflame, but it was enough for now. The leaves burned on contact with the flames, hitting him lightly and slowing him not at all. He barreled straight into Turtwig, damaging him severely.

And it's not like there was a health bar over his head. He looked winded, singed, and generally in quite a bit of pain.

"Finish him with flamethrower," I told Trust. He knocked the Turtwig out easily. So much for the turtwig's high defense, as warned by Roark.

"Turtwig is unable to battle. Round one goes to the challenger."

"Hmm… Interesting," Gardenia said, recalling her pokemon. Trust looked back at me; I gave him a smile and a thumbs-up.

"Cherrim."

I was back in. "Head in with flamethrower."

"Magical leaf, and dodge!"

The leaves swerved around the flames – an oddity; most would have let them collide – and nailed Trust in the face, while the cherrim jumped away from the fire. I was about to call another command when I realized Trust was acting strangely.

"Trust?"

"Grass knot!"

He was clutching his face, rubbing part of it. He didn't flinch when the grass knots multiplied, tying down his feet.

"Leech seed," called Gardenia. She was getting move after move in; we needed to do something, fast.

"Trust, flamethrower."

He threw out embers instead, in a completely random direction, while the leech seeds hit. I realized what had happened: the magical leaves had cut his eye. Not severe in the long run; painful for now, and blinding for now.

"Flamethrower in a semicircle to your right," I told him.

The cherrim was too close; ember hit. "Again!" I yelled quickly.

"Magical leaf!"

The two attacks met this time; ember was a bit stronger, cutting through the grass move. Cherrim toppled over backwards, trilling before falling unconscious.

"Cherrim is unable to battle. Round two to the challenger."

"Return," Gardenia said.

"Hang on," I called before she could say anything pre-final-round. Stepping onto the battlefield, I jogged over to Trust.

"Lemme see your eye," I murmured. He was clutching it. He gave a little sound of reluctance and withdrew a little. This hadn't happened before. "Trust. I need to see."

Trust gave in and slowly pulled his hands from his right eye. His eye was watering like mad, and a sliver of white cut across his cornea. I knew the roserade wouldn't last long under him, but this wasn't worth it. "Relax a bit," I said, pulling out his pokeball. "You've done well."

He looked as uncomfortable as I felt as he returned to his pokeball. I tried not to show it. We could handle the grass gym without a fire type.

"You know," Gardenia said when I returned to my side of the battlefield, "I thought you'd be the merciless type at first. You know, the type who's strong but sees their pokemon as pawns."

Surprise shot through me. "What? Why?"

"It was the way you were calling commands. New trainers aren't usually so calm about it."

I blushed. "I mean, it's mostly cause I'm more likely to misspeak if I yell…"

"No matter. You broke my expectations with the way you communicated with your monferno. Regardless of how the next round plays out, you'd deserve the badge."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," I said, grinning. I picked up Faith's pokeball and got ready to throw…

I stopped, remembering Gardenia's greatest fear. Ghosts.

 _Can Promise handle a roserade?_

I pulled out the other pokeball, thinking fast. "Promise," I whispered to it, "If you've never used swift before, here's how: whip your tail in front of you, putting energy in it. It's not a specific type of energy."

"Something wrong?" Gardenia asked.

"Nope," I called back, throwing Promise's pokeball. "Try it out when you're ready," I told him.

Promise whipped his tail around a few times. He wasn't even close to getting the hang of it by the time Gardenia let her roserade onto the battlefield.

"Roserade, stun spore!"

"Watergun the spores." I reacted immediately.

Promise's watergun soaked the stun spore, sending the powder off to the side. Aquajet he didn't have down yet, water pulse was too slow. Water gun was about it, besides the usual tackle and sonic boom. Flipping heck.

"Poison sting!"

"Counter with watergun,"

Roserade whipped out a barrage of thorns. I squinted at the point where it met Promise's watergun; the poison sting moved through the water for a few feet, but slowed to a stop.

"Promise," I said suddenly, thinking up a new idea, "Get up close to the roserade."

He gave me a look of shock.

"Go on."

He sprinted, dodging a few shots of poison as he ran, and when he was close enough I called out, "Watergun! Hard as you can!"

Promise let out a torrent of water right at the roserade's chest, throwing her backwards against one of the boulders on the field. She clearly looked winded – it worked.

"Grass knot!"

Promise tripped midstride, tumbling forward. It was enough time for the roserade to recover and shoot poison needles at him.

"DODGE!" He rolled and barely avoided the poison sting.

"Roserade, magical leaf!"

The roserade copied Promise; she darted right up close and blasted him straight-on, hitting him hard enough to snap the grass knots at his feet and knock him backwards, hard.

"Watergun behind." Promise twisted in midair and let out a jet of water at the wall, slowing his passage. "At Roserade, knock her back."

"Dodge, and use magical leaf!"

"Intercept it."

Trying to knock her into rocks wasn't going to work well enough – Promise needed to be up close for that, and we were spending all our time countering Roserade's non-evadable attacks instead. I ditched the last strategy and looked around the battlefield for something to speed the battle up. All I could see was rocks.

Oh.

"Watergun a rock. Hard."

Promise did so, as I kept an eye on Roserade. She was getting ready for another magical leaf.

"Brace yourself."

The leaves didn't move Promise when they hit, though they dug into his shoulder and arm. Smaller bits of rock crumbled off the boulder he was aiming for, ranging from pebbles to softball-sized.

"Use those in your watergun."

"Poison sting!" Gardenia called.

"Dodge."

Promise leaped over the flow of poison needles to reach his stockpile. He held a rock in front of his face and shot it forth with water. The roserade, not knowing what to expect (or the velocity to expect it at), received a direct hit to the stomach. She staggered back.

He kept it up, and it was working. While the water itself did little, the projectiles and the force of impact were wearing away at Roserade's stamina.

"Poison sting!"

Roserade jumped and shot the stingers at Promise, who was down getting another rock. He cried out as they burrowed into his side.

"Magical leaf!" Gardenia continued.

I noticed faster with Promise than with Trust. He froze and started shaking.

"Forget the rock, watergun the leaves."

He managed to focus enough to shoot a shaky stream of water, which absorbed most of the leaves. It wasn't a physical problem; there was something in his head. He looked at me with panic and borderline anger in his eyes.

The answer was intuitive. "Go wild," I told him.

He screamed a pained scream and darted at Roserade as fast as lightning. Promise ran right up close, right through a full-blast magical leaf that should have taken him down, and executed the closest thing to close combat I'd ever seen from a buizel. Any pokemon at this level, really. It was a mixture of quick-attack punches and close-range sonic booms. The roserade didn't know how to respond. None of us did.

With a final kick to the jaw, Promise knocked over the roserade. She had barely hit the ground when I ran.

"Promise – Promise, are you okay?"

He turned to me – the fear and fury hadn't left his eyes. "Promise, it's okay now, Promise–" I knelt and held him tight. "It's okay."

Promise was tense in my arms. He didn't loosen, but at some point he leaned into me. He was scratched up and bruised everywhere, but the worst of the pain seemed to be ebbing.

"How could you tell?" Gardenia had come over. How I could tell Promise had found an emotional trigger in that battle, likely the poison.

"I…" Still holding on to Promise, I said, "I recognized it from when that happens to me."

Gardenia looked saddened. "So early in your journey?"

"…not that early."

Gardenia understood I didn't want to continue the conversation. She said, "Well, you fought well, all things considered, and it's clear you've become connected with your pokemon. For that–" She pulled a case from her shorts pocket. "I present to you the Forest Badge."

I stood, still holding him, and held out my hand. "Thank you," I said, receiving the badge.

"Where are you heading after this?" Gardenia asked.

"The Pokemon Center."

"Well, yeah." She looked at Promise. "Usually I like to chat with a challenger after a battle, to see what their plans are, but I'll let you go. I'm guessing you have an idea of what you're doing next?"

"Yeah, definitely." A very good idea of what was happening.

"All right then. Best of luck to you."

"Thanks."

* * *

 **Woo longest battle of the story thus far.**

 **In case you're wondering, I did have Evelyn tell Trust to use flamethrower on purpose. The fact that he's using ember anyway is to show the panic he's feeling.**


	13. Counterplan

They were outside, it turned out. I was a little bothered that they hadn't tried to inform me, but not much.

"Melody, mega drain!" called Dawn.

Her roselia spun and pointed gracefully towards Lucas's turtwig. There was an awkward pause. I was confused, but then I realized that Dawn was trying to _teach_ the roselia mega drain.

"What have you been telling her?" I asked, walking up behind her.

She jumped. "Oh – to pull energy from the opponent."

I spoke to the roselia directly. "You gotta reach out first. Put out a rope of energy at the opponent. It acts like a straw."

The roselia concentrated. Slowly, wisps of green energy wound their way through the air. Lucas's turtwig waited patiently for the arrival. When the tendrils connected, Melody directed energy back through the strands – a visible flow ran towards her. Turtwig seemed more uncomfortable than pained, but the roselia would get stronger.

"How'd you know?" Dawn said, startled.

I shrugged. "Just battled Gardenia. Can I talk to you guys?"

We picked the outdoor part of a café on the edge of town, next to the forest. The deck hung over the edge of the forest itself, meaning there were fewer directions for people to overhear anything from. I typed a poketch message to Looker under the table. We ordered food and began to talk.

"Is there something you need to say?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah." I coughed softly. "It's… When I was in Floaroma, a little girl came running, saying something about her daddy being locked in the Valley Windworks by a bunch of bad guys. It turned out it was a group called Team Galactic, with their leader Mars."

"Team Galactic?!" Dawn repeated suddenly.

"Yeah."

She and Lucas exchanged a knowing glance.

"Some of them were in Jubilife," Lucas said. "They called themselves grunts."

"We were passing through north Jubilife and found them trying to steal from Professor Rowan," said Dawn. "Laptop, pokemon, whatever he had."

I vaguely remembered Dawn dealing with something like this last time around. Lucas had been somewhere else.

"So what happened at the Windworks?" Dawn prompted.

"They were collecting energy for something big. I more or less kicked them out. There weren't many of them."

"Do you know anything else about them?"

I paused.

"They're criminals under the guise of an electric company," said someone behind Lucas. "I've been watching them for some time. International Police, call me Looker."

They'd seemed startled at first, and a little wary now. "Don't worry, I know him. We met in Jubilife a while back," I let them know.

Looker pulled up a chair beside me. "I see you're all acquainted with Galactic now. That'll make things easier. Essentially what they're aiming to do is create a new world using the myths of Dialga, Palkia, the lake trio and the Red Chain."

"But… They can't be serious?" Dawn said.

"They are very serious. And they have the capabilities to go very far with this myth."

"Would it work?" Lucas. "Would they actually make a new world?"

Looker and I glanced oh-so-inconspicuously at each other.

"It's not a sure thing. What is a sure thing," Looker added solemnly, "Is that they would leave a legacy of crime and destruction in their wake. More than the petty robbery you faced in Jubilife."

"So… Why are we being involved in this? Aren't there other trainers?" Dawn asked.

"My dear, you stepped into involvement the moment you crossed their paths in Jubilife," said Looker. "You have experienced their true nature firsthand, while others have not. And wouldn't you like to fight back? To stop them before they go too far?"

I twisted the tablecloth corner under the table's edge.

Lucas's eyes were shining now. Emotions did that – both the bad and the good, sadness and excitement and anticipation. I think he wanted to do this.

"Well… all right. Where do we start?"

In response to Dawn, Looker looked to me. "Evelyn had something she wanted to share."

Glancing around, I pulled off my poketch and flipped it to the voice record app. I played the recording of Jupiter's conversation, while Looker recorded the playback on his own device.

After listening, Looker leaned back. "The Adamant and Lustrous orbs… It makes sense that those would be connected. I don't see why I didn't notice the connection sooner…"

He was thinking of the theft of the orbs last time around. I remembered it vaguely, but not where or when exactly it was.

"By getting the orbs out of the way, we can slow them down," I said. "It's a start, at worst."

"Okay, can we start over," Dawn said, flustered, "because I lost her at 'Red Chain'."

"Oh," said Looker, somewhat surprised, "Yeah. Sorry. The Red Chain… You've heard of the lake trio, I assume?" Dawn nodded. "The Red Chain in its natural state is just the crystals of the trio. It allows them to control any pokemon, which they would use to force Dialga and Palkia to create a new world."

"Right now they're powering up to create a bomb," I said.

Dawn jumped, and Lucas looked alarmed. "What?"

"To use on a lake," I explained. "To lure one of the lake pokemon out, which lures out the rest. With the lake pokemon they'd be able to commence with the summoning of Dialga and Palkia, which they can't do with the Chain alone."

"Shouldn't we stop them from making the bomb first?" Dawn pointed out.

"That's the next step," Looker agreed, "but blocking them from attaining the Adamant and Lustrous orbs would mean they can't catch the lake trio."

"But the Red Chain is made of the trio…?" Dawn was confused.

"Not the artificial version," said Lucas. "Team Galactic makes their own Chain using the orbs, then they catch the trio, then they summon the duo."

"Good," Looker said, nodding, "You're catching on." (I beamed.) "I think they're held in… Is it Veilstone?"

"Hearthome, I think," I responded. Lucas nodded an affirmation. "Can you pull the 'I'm the IP' card on the museum?"

"Possibly. I'll get over there and let you guys know. Let's exchange poketch numbers for now," Looker said.

"Numbers? Poketches aren't phones," Dawn said.

I stiffened, realizing Looker's mistake. The text message app wasn't released until early October, and voice calls were in November. I still had both from the last time around, but these two…

"Oh, sorry. It's a secret upcoming app right now; it'll be released soon," Looker said. He was a member of the IP, he could get away with this kind of mistake. I envied him. "But we'll keep in touch. In the meantime, I'm glad you brought up bomb prevention, Dawn."

Looker pulled out a medium-sized backpack from under the table. It was packed full and looked like any normal trainer bag. "Full of IP pokemon," he said.

"They don't let you carry pokemon, and then they give you _this_?" I said incredulously.

Looker shrugged. "These aren't mine. And it's already a leap of faith that they've given me this, since they still don't really believe Galactic is too big of a concern. These are Unovan pokemon, called joltiks. They're about four inches long or smaller, and they feed on electricity. I'd like you three to get them into Galactic's Eterna Headquarters and find where the energy is stored. Leave these guys there."

"Wait, back up," said Dawn. "First of all, isn't that pokemon abuse? Second, they'd see us."

"We're essentially giving these joltiks a source of food that will last them a while," Looker said. "We're not bringing faster eaters because that would show up too obviously on Galactic's radar. We've already electrocommunicated to the joltiks what we plan on doing, and they did not show signs of objection. And you'll actually be going under the guise of rescuing the bike shop owner. He's being held there because he has a few pokemon with celestial connections. A clefairy or two. A solrock, I believe."

The waiter returned with our food. "Anything for you, sir?" he asked Looker. Looker declined, and the waiter went back inside.

"We could go tonight," Lucas said, "after we battle the gym."

"Our pokemon won't be in good shape," protested Dawn. "And we should probably get out of town as soon as we can after that. Let's go in the morning."

"Sooner the better," said Lucas, "Cause the bike shop owner is just waiting there."

"I still say it should be tomorrow," Dawn said. And it was decided.

Looker stood up to leave. "I leave these in your care. Leave the bag in your room when you leave. I'll let you know what's next after I look into the orbs."

He left us to lunch and the anticipation of what was to happen. I noticed but didn't understand the somewhat bothered look on Lucas's face.

* * *

I'd intended to watch Lucas's gym match after my pokemon healed, but Dawn challenged me to a battle instead. "You don't want to rest up before the match?" I asked.

She shrugged. "It'll be fine. I'll run them through healing. This'll be a warmup."

 _Usually a rookie mistake_ , I thought grimly. But I agreed to a three-round match.

She sent her roselia out first, and I sent Trust. I'd pick Promise to go up against Bree/Kenna, and Faith would fight Dawn's third pokemon.

"Oh, boo," she said with a slight pout. "Ready?"

"Yeah," I said. "You take the first move."

"Kay. Melody, stun spore!"

"Go ahead and flamethrow that."

It wasn't a long battle, though I tried to stretch it out so Trust might get some flame wheel practice in. Trust had the type advantage and the experience advantage.

"Good battle, Melody. Kenna, go!"

My stomach twisted a little. Bree was still a piplup, although probably borderline evolution. She came onto the field determinedly, boldly, without seeming to recognize me one bit.

 _Of course she doesn't, you dumbwad._

I licked my lips. "Promise, it's yours."

"Go!" yelled Dawn.

 _Go?_ I wondered.

Bree sprang forward with a peck attack, beak glowing white. Promise dodged it. Without waiting for a command from Dawn, Bree reversed directions and lunged at him again, catching him in the back.

"Watergun," I said. Promise turned and shot water at Bree, who was already gone. I'd forgotten how fast she was. And just like that, she'd nailed Promise in the stomach with peck.

"Bui!" he cried.

"Prom, sonic boom!"

He whipped his tail at the incoming piplup, hitting her square in the face. "Great! Again, and water punch!"

Besides Bree's initial wth-is-a-water-punch confusion, it wasn't too effective. I realized what was going on: Bree was so fast, Dawn was just letting her decide for herself for increased speed. And I did not remember this amount of speed from Bree, when I had her.

"Send her flying when she gets close," I told Promise.

He waited for her to approach with peck, then ducked under and shot her up with watergun. Chirping frantically, Bree floundered in the air and hit the ground bellyfirst.

"Shake it off, Kenna! Peck one more time!"

"Push her down," I said.

Promise waited, and jumped and shot her into the ground with watergun. Bree struggled to get out of the muddy crater.

And started glowing.

"Great job, Kenna!" Dawn called happily. Her piplup-turned-prinplup emerged from the glow and chirped proudly. "Go for it!"

Kenna swiped forward suddenly, knocking Promise away. Promise cried out, a pair of welts evident across his shoulders and chest. Metal claw, looked like.

"Water gun!"

"Cut through!"

Promise blasted Kenna with water, but the prinplup wielded her flippers in front of her like the bow of a boat, running right through it.

"Jump, and sonic boom!"

Promise jumped just before Kenna reached him, but Kenna jumped at the last minute. With a split-second metal claw, she slapped him downwards, slamming him into the ground. Promise tried to get up from the mud, but collapsed back down.

 _Oh. Shiz. That happened._

"Return," I said, stunned.

"Great job, Kenna! Return," Dawn called.

 _Nicely done, Kenna._

Though we were tied now, I still wasn't too concerned. Faith had her combos down pretty well. I threw her pokeball out, and she appeared over the field, grinning with her tongue out.

"Alan, go!"

"Faith–" Then I saw who Alan was, and my heart stopped beating for a bit, because _holy literal hell_.

"Odor sleuth!" Dawn yelled to the very, _very_ familiar growlithe.

A wild blur of emotions – _angerregretresentmentdismayheartbreak_ – swirled through me like a hurricane. I was literally going to go back for Owen tonight or tomorrow. It had been a day, a _day_ , and within a _day_ there was a second pokemon gone. Both to Dawn.

I wasn't focusing. Faith, confused at my reaction, was trying to duck and dodge Owen's – _Alan's_ – bite attacks, but the odor sleuth was helping him. "Faith! Uh–" _regretangerregretregretregret_ "Uh, hypnosis!"

"Dodge! Lunge in with bite!" Dawn called out confidently.

"Faith, dodge!"

I'd reacted too soon; Faith didn't know whether to dodge or attack. She settled for disappearing as a way of dodging, but Alan's odor sleuth counteracted the benefit of that. He snapped his jaw at thin air, then shook his head wildly. Faith reappeared, and Alan released her from his maw, panting happily. She fell to the ground.

"Alan, great job!" My old friend Owen turned and bounded into Dawn's arms.

I couldn't look away from the airy violet mass on the ground. At some point I came to my senses and recalled her. "Let's get you guys healed," I said.

"Hey." Dawn was walking up, Alan at her heels. "Great battle. I don't think we've ever fought like that before!"

"Yeah, same to you." I wondered if all her other challengers had really been worse than that. "I'm gonna get them healed."

Dawn recalled Alan. "I'll be there in a bit. See you soon."

"Where are you going?"

She turned her head over her shoulder. "Lucas is probably done. I'm going to catch up with him."

I watched her jog away, a sinking feeling in my chest.


	14. Headquarters

Lucas's battle had gone well, but he hadn't won. "Cause two thirds of my team is water and grass," he told me.

We were eating dinner in the Pokemon Center cafeteria. All of our pokemon were out next to our table, with Lucas's grotle and psyduck being our subject of conversation. I periodically kept zoning out while looking at Kenna or Alan.

"Brave of you to try," I said. He shrugged.

"I probably should have trained Kadabra more," he admitted.

The kadabra in question was chasing his food around the table. "Faith, be nice," I said sternly. The bowl stopped abruptly, and Lucas's kadabra ran straight into it. I heard a giggle.

"If you want a flying type, there's starlies everywhere," Dawn said, taking a bite of salad.

Lucas stabbed a piece of meat without replying. I looked at them both. Had something happened between them?

When Dawn got up to bus her dishes, Lucas asked me something.

"Hm?" I looked away from the growlithe, who was running in circles around Lucas's grotle.

"What's it like traveling alone?"

I contemplated the question. "What part of it?"

"I dunno, everything."

"Um… it's definitely more dangerous, but it's also kind of nice. You get to set the pace you walk at, when and where you travel or stop. You don't get to talk to anyone, unless you're in the habit of talking to your pokemon. But it's not really lonely, either, because your pokemon are there."

Lucas nodded thoughtfully.

"Are you thinking of doing that?"

He shrugged. "Maybe."

Dawn returned to the table at that point. "I'm gonna battle the gym right after this," she said, "So that we can move quickly in the morning."

Lucas caught my eye and briefly raised his eyebrows.

"Are you guys moving on to Veilstone after this?" I asked Dawn, glancing at Lucas.

"Yeah. Another reason why a flying type would be useful," she said, nudging him.

Lucas stood, picked up his somewhat-eaten plate, and dumped it in the dirty dishes area. He left to go upstairs.

Dawn stared. "What was that for?"

* * *

I was in the shower when I realized: How the heck were we gonna get out of town quickly if Lucas didn't have his badge?

I nearly ran back to our room, hair a wild wet medusa mess. "So I didn't realize this before, for whatever reason," I said to Lucas, who was sitting on the bottom bunk, "But how–" How are you gonna get out of town when you lost your battle? "What's your plan for the gym?"

"Battling tomorrow," he said, unfazed.

"Yes, but before or after the HQ?"

He shrugged. "Whichever."

"Lucas, you can't stay after going into the HQ. They'll be targeting you, it's dangerous."

He flopped down. "That'll be a nice change," he muttered.

"Not _that_ kind of dangerous," I pleaded. "Not the adrenaline type. The type where ten grunts gang up on you before you can get a pokemon out, and before you know it you're dead in the streets. You can't."

He looked tiredly at me, telling me how tired he was of hearing what he could or couldn't, what he should or shouldn't or just _was_ going to do. And I got it, I really did, but the memory of his death resonated too damn strong within me for me to let him take that risk.

I breathed. "Okay. I mean, you _could_ , but it wouldn't be the best idea. Is there any way you could battle beforehand?"

"I never said I wouldn't."

True.

"Could you try to?"

He shrugged, still lying down. "I dunno, what with my pokemon lineup and all."

"Hey, my buizel beat her roserade. It isn't impossible."

"That's one pokemon. She has three."

"Will you at least _try_ to get it done before we go to the HQ?"

He groaned in his throat.

"Please?"

Lucas rolled over, facing his back to me. "Fiiiine," he grumbled.

I exhaled. "Thank you," I said softly.

* * *

I woke up to the sound of wild rustling on the other side of the room. Sitting up, I found my flashlight and shone it over. Lucas's face was a ravaged crimson mess.

"Sneasel!" The pokemon standing over him hissed at me and lunged before I could do more than gasp

loudly as I awoke. I fumbled for my bag and pulled out my flashlight before realizing I could see perfectly fine in the moonlit dark. Lucas was fine.

I groaned in annoyance as I lay back down, dropping the flashlight into my bag. It hit something solid – my water bottle? – with a sharp thud. I cringed, but Lucas and Dawn didn't stir.

Trust did.

"Mon?" His tailflame lit up, and he looked questioningly at me.

"Shh," I whispered, "It's nothing. Go back to sleep."

Instead, he extinguished his tailflame and leaped onto my knees, facing me expectantly.

"Mon," he repeated.

I sighed. "Bad dream."

He nodded sympathetically.

"It was about–" I looked up to check that no one else was awake. "–Lucas. A sneasel attacked him."

Trust nodded again. I think he knew there was more to it than that.

"It was Jirra," I said. "One of my pokemon… from the last time around. You know about the whole time travel deal, right?"

He nodded. I figured they'd overheard through their pokeballs when I told Megan.

"Jirra was my sixth. I only caught him a month before coming back to September. It was after Lucas died. A psychic type killed him, so I wanted a dark type. As if it would help post-mortem." I paused, thinking about my old sneasel.

"Jirra was mean. He was just… a lot more vengeful than the rest. The others could get angry sometimes – well, except Emmy – but no one was downright mean. He'd overreact easily and attack them. I put up with it cause he was still my dark type. And it didn't bother me, cause I told myself they could handle it. I think he was a bad decision, but he was a good fighter."

I patted Trust's shoulder. "Thanks for caring. I guess I'm just worried about what that mean sneasel is doing in the present."

Then, "If I said we were going back to Jubilife to track down Liana… How would you feel?"

"Monferno." He nodded acceptingly.

"Mkay." We kind of sat there looking at each other. I smiled.

"You used to be Lucas's. I didn't know you very well. He didn't nickname his pokemon, so you were just Infernape, or I guess at this point Monferno. You didn't fight Azelf the day he died. He hadn't brought you out yet. Probably cause you're a fighting type."

He nodded again. I felt calm enough to go to sleep.

"Go get some rest now. Big day ahead. HQ invasion, the usual drill."

Trust smiled and leaped soundlessly to the floor. In minutes, we were both asleep.

* * *

Lucas wasn't there when we woke up. He hadn't returned by noon. In the early afternoon, I finally got around to teaching my pokemon to break out of their pokeballs. Faith mastered it instantly, Trust got it sometimes, and Promise managed to do it once or twice. At that point I let them rest, not wanting to push Promise to the point of frustration.

"You're sure we shouldn't look for him?" Dawn said again.

"He should be fine," I said once again. "He's got the gym to deal with, and possibly some training beforehand. Plus it's not logical to spring into a battle right after training, so he'll have to rest and heal them up."

"Kay," she said. She would ask again within thirty minutes.

But even I was getting worried. It was getting later and later – if he didn't get back soon, we'd have to escape the city at night. Worse yet, what if he didn't come back? I wasn't worried (at least, not compared to what I'd be if this had happened after we went to the HQ) but… still.

It was four twenty-two when he returned. Dawn and I were checked out of the pokemon center, with our backpacks stuffed full of pokeballs and the empty knapsack on the bedroom floor.

"Tell us a story," I requested.

"In short, a snorunt and a badge," he said, tapping his belt and pocket respectively.

"Great. Let's talk while they get healed."

The three of us sat down on the edge of the empty practice battlefield outside the Center. "We've got the joltiks and the bike store owner to take care of," I began. "Our best bet is to go together at first, and then split up – one or two dealing with the power rods, the others continuing to the admin's office. That's where the bike shop guy should be."

"You and I can go release the joltiks, and Lucas could deal with the admin," Dawn said. "Since we already have them all."

I glanced at Lucas. "I can go either way. Lucas, what do you want to do?"

His eyes subtly smiled. "I'll take the joltiks. I have a pretty good idea where the rods would be."

That was true. Last time around, he'd pointed it out as we ran through. Just in passing.

"You can take my joltiks, then. Dawn, you're with him?" I slid my backpack off to transfer the pokeballs.

"Yep."

"Kay. There's no guarantees what'll happen in there, but hopefully things will just go as planned."

I gave Lucas his joltiks, and we picked up Lucas's pokemon and headed north.

* * *

The receptionist looked at us over his glasses. "Hello. I'm afraid we are not accepting visitors at the moment."

"Sorry, just returned from a mission," I said smoothly. "Have to go change. Lost our uniforms. Complications."

He frowned as we passed by him. "But your IDs… And your hair isn't even standard."

"Again, complications."

We must have made it through half of the building before anyone realized we probably shouldn't be there. There were five different battles with grunts of one pokemon each, and one tag battle that Lucas and Dawn handled. We reached the point where we would have to split up.

Lucas pulled out his kadabra. "Go ahead and mess with the cameras," he said. Kadabra closed his eyes, and I heard a faint screech echo within the building.

"See you soon," Lucas said, heading off down a corridor. Dawn and Kadabra followed him, the kadabra's eyes still closed.

I took a quick, deep breath and dashed off in the opposite direction. It took me a few portals and flights of stairs and backtracks to get there, but I did.

Jupiter turned. She was flanked by four grunts. "May I help you?"

I looked around the room and frowned. "I'm here for the bike shop man," I said. Where was he?

"Mr. Dupont is downstairs at the moment," she said. "We couldn't risk him informing the general public. Come to think of it," she added, pulling out a pokeball, "Your knowledge of him makes you a risk, too."

"Okay, back up," I said. "You could have pretended he was here on a visit. But you jumped right into assuming I already know everything. What's up with that?"

"You and I both know that you already know we kidnapped him. Zubat, supersonic!"

"Faith, hypnosis!"

Faith's invisibility worked to her definite advantage; believe it or not, supersonic is directional. A stream of yellow rings shot into Zubat's back, and the bat sank down, asleep.

"Nightshade!"

An easy defeat. Faith battered the zubat with the dark-type move until it was clear she wouldn't get up again.

"Skuntank, smokescreen!"

I coughed as the air filled with thick grey smoke. "Faith, confuse ray."

"Night slash."

Through the smoke I saw a flurry of black-violet slashes in the air. No confuse ray twinkled through. Bad sign. I heard Faith start to cry and then abruptly stop.

"Faith, return." The red light found its target, and I put away her pokeball. "Trust, it's yours. Flame wheel."

He came out somewhere in the haze and lit up the smoke with his fire. All I could really see was an orange glow zooming around, not accompanied by the crashes I was hoping for. Then there was a shout from Trust.

"Flamethrower!"

"Night slash!"

The tense chaos of close-quarters combat, with none of the visuals. When the clashes ceased and the smoke slowly faded, it turned out Trust, covered in a combination of little cuts and deep gashes, had come out on top of the singed skuntank.

 _Okay. This is going okay. Was that her last pokemon?_

She wasn't; there was a bronzor. But its psychic moves were weak, and the bronzor had clearly not been trained very well, and Trust got by with fire moves quite well.

Jupiter recalled her last pokemon, looking stunned. "How…"

"Well?" I said to the other grunts in the room, "Are any of you going to follow up?"

"They don't carry…" Jupiter came to a realization. "Are you the one who beat Mars at the Windworks?"

"Possibly. Now if you're not going to keep fighting, kindly release Mr. Dupont."

Grimacing, Jupiter handed a key to the grunt next to her. "Bring her downstairs. What's your name?"

"Evelyn," I said with a smart-alecky wave, "And I'll be seeing you around."

Trust and I followed the grunt out. I waited until we had made our way through two or three hallways and a room before saying, "I'll take it from here. Hand me the keys."

The grunt frowned. "I was told to lead you."

"Thank you very much," I said, holding out my hand. Trust jumped on my shoulder in support, though he was a lot heavier than he was the last time he'd done that.

Eyeing Trust, the grunt handed me the key and suddenly sprinted back down the hall. I ran in the opposite direction. Trust jumped down from my shoulder and monkey-ran alongside me.

We were almost there, I think, when Trust gave a sudden yell and disappeared from my view. Turning around, I saw him lying on the ground before something smashed into my forehead. The world turned black.

* * *

 **Oops I didn't realize I had enough text to publish another chapter this week.  
**

 **In other words, yeah, the publishing has caught up to my writing. Things may or may not be every week anymore, though I'll try to keep up. Most of chapter 13 was written within about a day or so.  
**

 **I know the battle with the Galactic peeps have been easy so far; just consider what that means for the future (spoiler? maybe.)**


	15. Nowhere or Galactic

"There you are!"

"Evelyn–"

"Don't wake her up, she's in a bad state. You guys found her pokemon?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go."

* * *

The first thing I said when I opened my eyes:

"Why're _you_ here?"

Thomas looked up from a magazine. "I – uh, I was stopping by and noticed you."

"So where…?"

A hospital, obviously. "How?" I muttered. Then I became aware of my head throbbing. "Nngh…"

"Should I get someone to get you to sleep?"

"No," I grunted, "what happened?"

"Your friends found you in the cellar of the building, with another guy. Bike shop man. Your pokemon were nearby, in pokeballs. They – your friends – broke you out."

"Are they okay?"

"Presumably."

" _Are they okay_ ," I growled.

"Yes, they're fine."

"My pokemon?"

"One went through the heal machine, another is getting concussion treatment like you, the third is right there."

"Bui."

I turned over in bed and found Promise looking down at me. "Promise…"

 _"But you can minimize it. Promise you'll do your best? Stay safe?"_

 _"I make no promises."_

He looked haunted, concerned, like there was something he hadn't fulfilled.

"Prom," I said again, voice hoarse, "I should have promised…"

The pain overcame me; I fainted.

* * *

I was alone in the room the next time I opened my eyes. My head was feeling much better, though it ached still. The window curtain was drawn, and the lights were off. Promise was asleep on the floor beside me.

There was some sort of IV connection on my wrist, but I wasn't connected right then. I slid out of bed and stepped out of the room.

The ward's halls were dark, except for a light at the desks. A lone night-shift nurse was nodding off at a computer.

"Oh," she said, seeing me, "I was about to check on you. Doing okay?"

I nodded. "How's my monferno?"

"He's recovering from the concussion a little faster than you are."

"Okay… How long have I been asleep?"

"It's been…" She counted in her head. "Two days? A little over that."

I cringed. Losing time fast. "Have my friends… Wait, what city is this?"

"Eterna City. What about your friends?"

I grew concerned. "They were supposed to leave. Did they leave?"

"Not with you in that condition."

"Where are they?"

"They're all right, you don't need to worry about them," the nurse soothed, sensing my agitation. "They're in another room, on the other side of the Center. They're in less danger than you and your injured head."

"Okay," I said. They'd started sleeping with their pokemon out; they'd be all right.

"You had a few visitors today, by the way," the nurse said, clicking to another screen. "Besides those friends, there was a Thomas Zamora–"

I made a disgruntled noise, too soft for her to hear.

"–and an Eleanor Tsai."

" _Mom's_ here?"

"Oh, she's your…?"

"She kept her maiden name when she married," I explained. "When did she arrive?"

"This afternoon. She stayed awhile, but you were asleep. She's here somewhere as well."

I heard a scuff in the hallway. I turned around so fast pain shot through my head, but it was only Promise.

"Bui?" he said groggily.

"Sorry, Prom. I'll come back now. Thanks," I said to the nurse. She nodded and went back to her screen.

In the room, Promise curled up on the floor. "Want to sleep up here?" I asked him. He looked up, seeming uncertain. "There's enough room, come on."

Hesitating, Promise climbed up and curled up just below the pillow. I stroked his fur a few times before we both fell asleep.

* * *

In the morning, Promise was still beside me. And Thomas had returned.

"Why do you keep coming back?" I asked.

He jumped and slid the paper he was holding into his wallet. Was that the paper he had that night in Eterna Forest?

"Maybe I was concerned," he said.

"You didn't need to be," I muttered. "And how'd you find out I was here anyways?"

"They… I saw your friends bring you here. I told you."

I stared at him. He stared back. His eyes were not nearly as bright as Lucas's.

"Little creepy though," I said. "Just showing up and sitting there. For at least a few days."

"I only came back cause the nurse said you woke up last night." Thomas stood up. "I'll leave if you don't want me here."

"Okay," I said. "Bye."

He walked out. I waited a minute before getting out of bed myself, trying not to disturb Promise but waking him anyways.

During the morning, I met with Mom. She'd been worried and still was, but I reassured her that it wasn't so bad, and I was all right, and besides it was just a freak accident.

Dawn was glad to see I was awake again. Lucas seemed more irritable than usual, but he smiled when he saw me, too. They said (Dawn said) they hadn't had any problems with Galactic, and they'd just been training to pass the time. We all decided we'd leave the next day – the doctors were making me stay one night more – but I think we all knew I wouldn't stick with them.

We ate lunch in the Pokemon Center – I saw Thomas at a table on the far side, alone. Lucas was the first to finish. He got up and left without a word.

I was training that afternoon, with the two pokemon who weren't recovering from a concussion. I worked with Faith first on sucker punch. She already knew nightshade, so dark type moves weren't totally new to her. Though it kind of seemed like the punch was dragging her forward, rather than her making a fast move.

"Redwood," Faith said suddenly, looking to the side of the field. I turned; didn't see any redwoods, but Thomas was walking out of the Pokemon Center. He looked up; I looked away.

"There's no redwoods there," I said.

"Redwood."

Sucker punch didn't go much farther that day. I brought Promise out next. He kind of tumbled out, the way you do when you're leaning on a door and someone opens it from the other side.

"Are you all right…?"

He nodded gloomily.

"Okay. I guess we'll work on aquajet."

Promise had finally stopped drowning himself in the water source when Dawn came over. "Have you seen Lucas?" she asked.

"Not out here."

"I've been looking for him since lunch. He's not in the Center."

"I'll help you look."

He wasn't in the shops surrounding the Center, or downtown, or at a park. I walked through the marketplace with a sense of growing urgency, reflected in my footsteps and my heartbeat. You'd think he'd have told someone he was going someplace, with Galactic around. I drifted over to the side of the road and breathed.

 _Okay. He's either nowhere or with Galactic. Okay. Arceus. Let's check nowhere first._

Nowhere being nowhere in the city; nowhere being the place he would go if he had decided to quit the mindless dependent journey that he hated so much to run into a spontaneous independent one. Nowhere being where he would go without telling Dawn and without turning back. Time was ticking, if he was heading for nowhere.

I got out of the marketplace and only then started to jog, so I wouldn't seem like a shoplifter. Even so, it was a matter of half a block or so before I started to sprint towards the Bike Route.

He'd have come walking and then needed to rent a bike, if he was there. I hoped he was there. Anything could've happened if he wasn't for sure there. I knew anything too well.

There was someone entering the route who could've been him. Small, dark hair, the right backpack. "Lucas!" I called, hoping my voice didn't sound desperate.

The boy froze and turned around, expression shifting from concealed alarm to slight relief. It was him. Okay. It was him.

I slowed my footsteps and tried to calm my breaths. "You scared the… the hell out of us," I forced out.

"Sorry," he said. I couldn't tell if he meant it.

"Could've told Dawn," I said, still winded. "She'd be… nice about it."

He made a face that said "I didn't want to deal with that." Well damn, I didn't want to deal with being afraid for your life and yet here I am. But it doesn't matter too much to me because I love you and you're safe and so I'm more relieved than mad anyways.

"Well… good luck," I said, backing up.

"Thanks," he said, glad to go. He hopped onto the pedals and descended into the bike route.

While I tried to slow my breaths, I pulled out a pen and Looker's diary and tore out a blank page. "Found Lucas," I wrote. "He wanted to go on a journey on his own and didn't want to tell you. He's gone, but he's okay."

I signed the note and pulled Promise out of his pokeball. For some reason it seemed he stumbled again. "Could you deliver this to Dawn?" I requested. "You're faster than me by far."

He looked up mournfully at me. "What's wrong?" I asked. "You don't have to if it bothers you."

Promise looked down. "Don't worry. I'll ask Faith."

Faith was okay with it – although I realized as she floated up and away that the mischief she might cause could have been a bad idea.

Promise and I walked back through the marketplace. He was faster than me on four legs and slower than me on two, so he went back and forth between the two modes of travel.

"Think we should get some fresh food before we leave tomorrow?" I asked him.

Which led us to produce-heavy part of the market. Promise kept getting excited around the oran berries, so I bought something like ten of those. It was good to see him in better spirits.

On the way back to the center, we passed the bike shop. The playground beside it was vacant.

"Excuse me?"

I turned around. It was the bike shop man.

"Oh, it's you! I didn't get the chance to thank you properly before."

Cause I'd been unconscious, yeah. "Oh, I – no need to thank me. I didn't even get you out of there. My friends did."

"You were part of the rescue mission. Please, come inside," he said, gesturing for me to follow him into the shop.

"The failed part," I said, obliging anyways. We walked past rows of colored mountain bikes on the walls and pastel street bikes on the floor to the back of the shop. I'd have expected clutter, but the back was extremely well-kept – drawers and cabinets lined the room, labeled with masking tape, and a few tools – maybe the commonly-used ones – hung from a board on the wall. There was space for a table and chairs.

"It's the thought that counts," he said.

"The thought didn't save you," I said bitterly.

The bike shop man – Mr. Dupont, right – glanced at my buizel and smiled. "What is an action without thought? A coincidence."

"How does that…? Anyways, it's because of my friends that you're safe. Not me."

"I hear it was your idea to begin with," he said, opening a cabinet. He rummaged through it.

"Sort of. Only because I knew about it to begin with."

"And how could I have been rescued if no one knew at all?" he said, still smiling. He returned from the cabinet with some pokemon food. The fancy type-specific kind. Water type. "Thanks to you four, I'm back here again, and my pokemon are safe as well."

Something about the statement didn't sit right.

"Speaking of pokemon," he said, filling a bowl with the pokemon food and setting it on the table, "I didn't actually invite you in to thank you. I was interested in your buizel."

"He's not up for trade," I said immediately. Mr. Dupont chuckled.

"Not in that sense." Promise hopped onto the table in a single bounce and tested the food. Finding it suitable, he started to eat. "There's something different about your buizel."

"How so?"

Mr. Dupont observed Promise as he munched. Prom didn't seem too weirded out. "I'm not as good at figuring pokemon out as my daughter is. But he seems attached to you. That's all I know for sure. It's as though something has happened recently to strengthen that attachment, though not necessarily in a positive way."

Hearing this, Promise looked at me. His eyes were solemn.

"Is that so?" I murmured.

Mr. Dupont clapped once. "Anyways. The thing about you two is that you can't have been training for that long – it's trainer selection time, yes? and two of your friends clearly had young pokemon – and yet to have a connection such as this…"

"I've had experience with pokemon before," I explained.

"I see. Well…" He hurried out of the room and returned a few moments later with a straw basket. He set it on the table gently. Inside was an egg.

"Would you mind taking this off my hands?"

"Whoa." I threw my hands up. "What."

He laughed outright. "I know it's sudden. But after what happened at the HQ, I trust you, and frankly, I've been looking for a way to get rid of it. I don't have the time or youth to take care of a youngling anymore. My daughter gave it to me."

I examined the egg. Small, round, white patterned with red and blue triangles. Not hard to guess what was inside. But, just like that? And a fourth spot on my team gone?

But objectively, this was a chance. Togepis weren't common. And I'd never cared for an egg before; it would be a completely new experience.

"Are you sure? I didn't even do much for you…"

He shook his head. "You'd be doing me a favor."

I looked at Promise. He looked excited, and he nodded eagerly.

"Well… I guess so."

Mr. Dupont set me up with an egg bag (like a cushiony drawstring bag) and soon I was on my way. I was halfway out the door when I figured out what had bothered me earlier.

"Mr. Dupont, earlier you said something about 'the four of us'? Who else were you talking about?"

Surprise mounted his face. "Weren't there four? You, the other girl, two boys?"

"I only knew of one–"

Wait.

"What did the boys look like?"

"One was short and one much taller; the short one had a grotle, the tall one's pokemon I didn't see."

"Did the tall one have glasses, dark hair, a blue-striped sweatshirt?"

"He did."

No wonder Thomas had lingered around me in the hospital.

"Thank you."

"Oh, thank you."

* * *

I found him in the Pokemart, buying medicine. "You lied," I said.

"Who told you?"

"The bike shop guy."

He paid for the bandages and potions and tucked them into his backpack. "Yeah."

"Why?"

"You were unhappy as it was," he said.

"How does that relate?"

"Nice egg, by the way."

" _Thomas._ "

"You hate it when I 'rescue' you," Thomas said, making quotation marks with a hand. "It's not like you needed to know."

Holy frack. He lied for my sake.

"What do you _want_?"

"What do you mean?"

"You kept showing up in my hospital room? What do you want?"

"Nothing," he said, shouldering his backpack. "Isn't it normal to worry about someone you carried to the hospital with a concussion?"

"You _carried_ me?"

"…again, this is why I lied."

"Whatever," I muttered.

I wanted to hate him. Mostly because I was used to it. But he'd just flipping come to my rescue again and tried to pretend my friends saved me so I wouldn't be disappointed.

"Doing anything tonight?" I asked.

"…are you trying to make an innuendo?"

"Welcome to Sinnoh. It's not an innuendo. It's a board game."

* * *

 **hahahaHA I finally got a chapter out :D There's another one that's almost done, but I'll save it for next week. See you then~**


	16. Things That Come Out At Night

We stayed up playing Jenga. It was checkers at first, but he was no good at that and I could barely play chess, so we went for something more universal.

"How'd the gym go?" Thomas asked me as I searched for a piece.

"It went fine." I pulled out a loose edge and stacked it on top. "Trust swept through two of them, and Promise beat her last one."

"Promise?"

"Yep."

He looked appreciatively at my buizel, who was lying on an unused bunk playing with a ball of water energy. "Nice."

"Your move. How was your battle?"

"Not too bad," he said, scanning the tower. "Cassie got by with flame wheel pretty well. Marcassin set up a double team-based round for the fourth one."

Thomas wiggled a middle piece out of its position. "Are you heading on to Veilstone next?"

I shook my head. "I'm backtracking a bit. There's this shinx I'm looking for around Jubilife City."

"You didn't see any? I should have rounded them up for you," he joked, stacking it on top.

"No, one in particular," I said, testing an edge piece.

He looked puzzled.

I hunted for a looser block. "I met this–"

"You're supposed to take that."

I stopped. "Huh?"

"The piece. You touch it, it's yours."

"What kind of lame rule is that?"

"That's how you play it."

"That makes it a guesswork game instead of skill."

"No, it takes skill to get a piece out if it's stuck."

"Lame. Johto plays with lame rules."

It was a while before anything of significance came up again. "So how's things? With whatever you're hiding?" he said.

"What."

"How's it going with the things you won't tell me?"

I thought about it. "Decently? Or, no. You just rescued me again, so that bit went badly. And I just lost another spot on my team. And Lucas is gone." Damn, things weren't going well.

Which somehow reminded me...

"Oh, Arceus, I haven't called Megan in ages." Before the concussion.

"Do you need to do that now?"

"Yeah– well, I mean, we could finish the game…"

Thomas pulled out the edge of a row with the middle missing, sending the pieces toppling everywhere. "Oh, whoops, I lost."

Laughing – laughing, actually laughing – I stood and raced out the door.

* * *

" _Megan._ "

"What happened? I heard from your mom that you're okay but _dammit_ Evelyn."

"Dawn and Lucas and I went into Galactic's headquarters in Eterna," I said in a lower voice. "It went well, except that Trust and I got knocked out. Unconscious for a few days."

"What was it for?"

"Bike shop owner got abducted," I said, omitting the other purpose just in case. "Oh, he gave me an egg – I left it upstairs."

"Oh, nice. Any of your old team back?"

I grimaced. It's like she was psychic. "None yet. Dawn found my growlithe in Eterna. I'm heading back to Jubilife tomorrow to look for my shinx."

"Isn't that kind of far…?"

"It's like three days, max. I'll be training them on the way, so we won't lose too much time." Obviously we'd lost no time at all with my stupid concussion.

I should have made the promise to her. But if I made it now, told her I'd promise to stay safe, wouldn't that be a lie? Would it make her feel better after all the times I'd almost gotten myself killed already? Would it do anything at all? Flipping heck.

The sliding door behind me opened. Thomas poked his head in. "They said your monferno's better."

Promise loped in past his feet, jumping up on my lap. "Whoa there. Oh, Megan, this is Promise."

"Okay, that's cool, you don't have to introduce me…"

"...And the guy behind me is Thomas. He has an annoying habit of rescuing me."

"Hello," Thomas said to the screen.

Megan said seriously, "Thank you for keeping her safe."

Thomas nodded with equivalent seriousness. "It's no problem."

"Okay, now get out of here so I can talk to my friend," I told him. He saluted cheerfully and shut the door behind him, walking off to someplace in the lobby.

"Is he the guy you met in Eterna Forest?"

I made a face. "Technically in Jubilife. But I traveled with him through Eterna, yeah."

Megan wiggled her eyebrows at me.

"Don't be like that. I just stopped hating him."

"What? How come?"

"Cause he was being too nice."

"No, why did you hate him in the first place?"

"Oh. He… Well, he kept rescuing me."

Megan narrowed her eyes. She clearly knew there was more to it than that.

"Well, the first time he helped me out, I'd been a 7-badge trainer the day before. It just kept reminding me that I used to be able to take care of myself."

My tone was bitter by the end of that.

"Evelyn, you're going to be great. You're a strong, determined person, and even if you hadn't gotten there before, I know you'd be able to get there again."

I grinned sheepishly, feeling more reassured than I would have expected. "Thanks."

She smiled, then looked above the top of her computer screen and said, " _What?"_

"I thought you were asleep," I heard offscreen.

"Hi Mrs. Talbot," I said, a little louder. "Sorry, I forgot to call Megan sooner and didn't want to wait longer."

"That's all right. Your mom just got back. Are you doing any better?"

"Much better, thanks."

"I'm glad to hear it."

Megan was making a _Mom. Stop._ face. "All right, all right…" Her mom's voice faded away.

"I guess you should go to sleep," I said to Megan.

"You should, too."

"Sure, sure. Goodnight then."

"Goodnight," said Megan. "Stay safe."

I smiled and ended the call. Promise hadn't moved or said anything since jumping onto my lap. "We should go get Trust now," I said to him.

* * *

Quasar lowered me to the ground in his talons. I hit the ground running, recalled him and quickly spotted Lucas running in the same direction.

"Where to? I yelled, pulling myself alongside him.

"Island in the middle," he called back. "A cave."

The slope of the lake floor curved upwards towards the island, making it reachable on foot in the bombed-dry lake. We dodged defeated grunts and pools of magikarp, slipping in the mud a bit, sprinting to the cave hoping Saturn wasn't done yet, hoping for enough time–

Azelf swooped out of the cave entrance, eyes glowing savage red. We didn't even make it in. Without a moment to spare, Azelf picked Lucas

–I don't want to see this make it stop–

up with magenta-red psychic

–get me out of here I don't want to–

energy, lifting him ten feet, too high to reach but low enough to see his face clearly

–not again not again no–

The pink grip flared up, he tried to shout, blood ran from his mouth

–stop it–

I heard banging

–stop it–

Lucas clenched his fists and eyes

–stop it!–

and eyes

"Evelyn, stop!"

It stopped just in time. Why was my hand hurting?

"Evelyn, what's going on?"

Thomas was standing over me, looking bewildered. He had a hand out, like he was trying to block me from doing something. I looked down at the hand he was hovering over. Even in the darkness I could tell it was turning red and black and blue, and it was starting to burn.

"Evelyn?"

"Nightmare." My throat was hoarse. I cleared it and said, "I had a nightmare I didn't want to go through again."

"So you decided to beat up a nightstand?"

"I think," I said slowly, "I was trying to get out."

Thomas looked at me for a minute. He shook his head. "Let's go."

"Where?"

"We'll get you patched up."

"No, I'm fine. They'll make me stay longer if they think I can't even patch myself up. I'll do it myself."

Which led, instead, to Thomas bandaging my hand, as it is fairly difficult to do something like that one-handed. His hands were very average; rough and barely warmer than mine. Not Lucas's feverish heat, but not clammy, fortunately.

"What was so bad you had to escape like that?" he asked. I said nothing, hoping he'd just let it pass as usual.

"You were mumbling something about Lucas," he said.

Flipping hell.

"What exactly was I saying?"

"Something like… 'I don't want to watch you die again.'"

 _Flipping hell._

"There was… an incident," I said. "It was a close call. I've been having recurring nightmares since then – this one was a variation of it."

"Ah."

Thomas rewrapped a section of the bandage.

"Does he… Do you like him?"

I cringed. If someone who'd known me for like two weeks could tell already, then it was way too obvious.

"Hey, I'm only guessing. He's the only guy friend of yours I know," said Thomas.

"Mm." I hesitated. "The easy answer is no."

"What's the hard answer?"

"The complicated answer is no, it's become something that's definitely love."

"You're very certain."

"Have you read _A Wind in the Door_?"

"No."

"You've missed out. There's a line in it where Proginoskes – he's, uh, a cherubim, but he's really a ball of feathers with lots of eyes and wings – he says, 'Love isn't how you feel. It's what you do.' I didn't get it for a while, but if this is the case, then I'm more sure that I love him than I've ever been for anyone."

"Why're you telling me this?"

"…you seemed interested."

"Oh, I don't mind. I was just… I mean, it's a lot to trust someone with. Cause people are often skeptical of claims of love, so if they don't believe you then you lose credibility."

"Do you love anyone?"

"I thought I told you I had a girlfriend?"

"Had, yeah. Do you love her still?"

He was quiet this time. Holding my hand's wrappings together with one hand, he reached into his bag with the other and pulled out a square of paper. He placed it on the table: it was a photo of him and a girl – short, dark haired, wearing a mint green sundress – laughing, side by side. His arm was around her.

"Yeah," he said softly.

"It was because of circumstance though, right? Because she only did it so you wouldn't keep coming home and limiting your journey. So you still stand a cha–"

"She–" He interrupted me, shaking his head. "No. That was her cover story. She stopped liking me a few months before that. Things felt different between us. It wasn't just circumstance."

Oh.

I contemplated the new details. "She was thinking of you, if she came up with a cover story to try not to hurt you."

"I guess." Thomas latched the metal fastener to the end of the bandage. "There you go. Good night."

"Thomas?" I said a few minutes later, before falling asleep.

"Hm?"

"What's her name?"

He didn't reply. I let myself sink closer to sleep, and I was almost gone when he responded.

"April."

* * *

I got officially cleared from the hospital in the morning. They didn't look too hard at my hand, probably cause it was already taken care of anyways.

Even though Thomas and I hadn't done sketchy and/or adult things during the night, there was a sense of sheepish morning-after guilt between us in the morning.

"Hey." I coughed. "Sorry about last night."

"No, don't worry about it. All kinds of things come out when you talk late at night."

"I meant sorry for waking you… Well, I guess I kinda meant that too."

Thomas shrugged. "I let things out I didn't plan to tell you, too. It's okay."

So by the time we were downstairs attempting to eat breakfast (I wasn't hungry, but I tore apart a bagel and ate it slowly), the shifty cloud between us had dissipated. And thus Thomas had no qualms about asking me questions I hadn't intended to answer.

"Did you ever go back for the growlithe?"

My bagel lost appeal entirely. "No."

"Why not?"

I tried to think up an explanation that was close to the "Dawn took the growlithe I had in another timeline" truth as possible.

"I met a growlithe a few months ago while visiting Eterna Forest," I began. "I befriended him, and when I became a trainer I knew I wanted to find him for my team. I was gonna go back, but when I battled Dawn earlier this week, it turned she caught the growlithe. He doesn't even remember me."

"Is that why you want to go back to Jubilife still?"

I nodded, glad for some reason that he'd caught on. "Yeah. It doesn't matter anymore that Jubilife is a bit far; the growlithe was taken basically right under my nose. I'm done waiting to go back and get my shinx."

Thomas brushed crumbs off his face. "How are you with heights?"

This was sudden. "…terrible?"

"So you've never flown?"

"Oh, flying. No, I've flown on a staraptor before."

"How was that?"

"It accomplished what I needed it to." It was also terrifying. "And if you're trying to get me to fly on Silver, you can give that up now."

"What? Why?"

Caught him. "Silver's not big enough to take us both."

"Sure he is."

"No way."

"You're short."

"…but I'm not small."

"All right, all right. I was about to head back to Jubilife anyways, mind if I go with you?"

I thought about it, then shrugged. "Sure."

* * *

The fastest way without flying was through the bike route. Having fallen off of it before, I was a little wary of it now. But hey. Speed.

While waiting in the lobby for Thomas to be ready – he hadn't packed that morning – I took another look at Looker's diary. I'd remembered that morning that I was in Veilstone until early October. I spent a few days training my new starly; we went and battled the gym once Quasar had evolved into a staravia.

I was zoning out, thinking about Quasar – he and Liana were my battle lovers, sparring whenever we had a spare moment. Liana was always careful not to use too much electricity around him, which was why she fought with claws and teeth more than electric moves. They were close friends. Arceus, they didn't even know each other now. If there were more reasons of why I needed my old team members back than "Um hello how would you feel if you lost six of your best friends within what felt like sixty seconds?" then this was it, the fact that they were missing their best friends too.

Like I said, I was zoning out, thinking about Quasar, when Thomas came back downstairs. "Ready?" he said.

"I'm waiting for _you_."

"Well, still."

We left the lobby, me feeling absolutely ready to get my Liana back.

* * *

 **I wrote a lot of this the night before prom at 1 am. It literally is something that came out at night.**

 ** _A Wind in the Door_ is by Madeleine L'Engle, and it's lovely.**


	17. A Dent in Reality

The Bike Route took most of the day, so we chilled in Oreburgh in the late afternoon. Gripping the rental bike's handlebars probably wasn't great for my hand, but whatever. It was a Sunday, so it was a safe bet Tricia wouldn't have internship stuff today. I figured I ought to call her again.

She didn't pick up the first time, but within about ten minutes the nurse at the front desk informed me I had a call. Tricia was on the vidcall screen, her straight black hair hanging wetly down her arms.

"Hey," I said.

"Heyy," she said, "It's been a while." She sounded more excited than anything. With a jolt I realized I hadn't told her what I'd told Megan a week ago. I'd have to warm up to it. With Megan it was easy cause she suspected something was up. Tricia had no idea what was in store.

"How much did Megan tell you about my internship?" Tricia asked.

"Not much," I admitted.

"Bruh," she enthused, "It's great. Professor Rowan's letting me help with an investigation on Lake Verity's water quality, and so much about pokemon life at the lake is connected to it…"

It was a lot. And it was fascinating. The trends in pokemon life around the lake were based on salinity, algal growth, microorganisms, minerals, acidity. And those were just the water quality factors.

"And you guys are helping with the lake trio investigations, right?"

"Yeah," I said. "When's that starting?"

"He said he's waiting for you guys to have a flying type. Or at least for a few of you to."

"Oh, that makes sense." Transportation. "Can't guarantee when we'll get to that point, though."

"I mean, at some point you'll have to go through Veilstone's gym. Usually people find flying types for that," Tricia pointed out.

I grinned, thinking of the starly I was going to catch. "I suppose."

Tricia bobbed her head up and down. I mirrored her. We laughed. "Anyway," she said, "I hate to cut this off early, but I gotta finish a project today, and I barely started."

"Oh, yeah, no, that's fine."

We said our goodbyes and hung up, and only then did I realize my mistake.

* * *

Looker pinged my poketch around 6:30. I called the training battle off briefly to pick up the call.

"Yo."

"Hey Lyn. The orbs are with the IP. We've replaced them with fakes."

I did a quick run through my brain to figure out what he meant – Adamant and Lustrous Orbs in Hearthome, right.

"That's good to hear. Anything else new?"

"Well, there's an increase in Galactic activity in this part of the region. Seems we were right on. I have you to thank for that."

"The battle's not over yet. Did you get an update on our excursion in Eterna?"

"I attached a tracker to one of the joltiks, and it seems they're doing fine. So I guess it was a success?"

"Yeah. Close call for me, but we accomplished what we wanted to."

"That's good. By the way, have you told anyone about the app?" Time travel, in other words.

"I, uh… Yeah. Only one."

"Who?"

"Megan. I was going to tell Tricia too, but I don't have to."

"No, no, it's fine. Just make sure you can trust the people you tell; if news leaks or Galactic finds out, then you and I are in danger."

"But it's fine to tell people."

"Sure. Just a few. It's good that you're building a support network."

"Okay."

"Anything else?"

"Not that I can think of. Haven't seen Galactic since the HQ."

"All right. You know my number."

We hung up. He and I didn't have each other's contacts saved; for security we just memorized them. Poketches don't save recent calls past 24 hours.

"Sorry about that," I called across the battlefield.

"Hurry up and do something," Thomas yelled back.

"Faith, sucker punch!"

She was getting faster; she'd finally caught up to the speed of the punch itself. Esther – Thomas's flaafy – dodged.

"Go from below," I said.

Faith shot into the ground. Confused, Esther chose a direction and ran. Faith popped out of the ground, ramming her teeny mass into Esther. The dark energy more than anything stopped Esther in her tracks – reversed her tracks, really, toppling her off her feet and sending her rolling.

"Dang, nicely done," I said, impressed.

She grinned. "Plum," Faith said.

And she started glowing.

"Okay, I appreciate the evolution," I said to my now-haunter once the glow was done, "And I understand where that came from, but… plum?"

Thomas was walking over. "Nice," he said.

"Plum," Faith repeated.

"Plum?"

"Redwood."

"What happened to plum?"

"Redwood plum. Spruce."

"You _confuse_ me, child."

* * *

It was pouring, water pounding down in sheets, the world more ocean than air. Bree had noticed a crevice in the rock walls on the side of the road, and we ended up taking cover for the night inside it. I don't even remember where it was, except that it was sometime between my fourth and seventh gym badges because everyone except Jirra was there.

I let everyone out – it was barely big enough. Owen, who was already an arcanine, noticed I was shivering, and curled up behind me. His soft fur radiated warmth. Thank Arceus for fire types.

Bree, who was a prinplup, was still out in the rain. She had a habit of – maybe not habit so much as hobby – of spinning in the rain. In the storm she looked like a torpedo, a flashing whirligig of water and grace.

Quasar, who hated the rain with a passion, settled on Liana's back. He was still small enough to do so comfortably, as a staravia, and she was big enough as a newly-evolved luxray to barely notice. Still, she gave a soft growl, not in aggression so much as to say "Okay, I feel you," and with a gentleness that suggested "Stay as long as you'd like."

Emmy was still an eevee at this point. She climbed onto my lap. I leaned back against Owen's warm body, stroking Emmy's fur. Bree waddled in from the rain, joining us in our hideaway.

And how can I describe the warmth that came from more than just Owen's body heat? How do I convey the peace that was more than our collective sleepiness, the companionship that was more than between just Quasar and Liana, the comfort that wasn't just me stroking Emmy? How do I explain the perfection we were?

I knew it was a dream. That was what made me sad. I stopped stroking Emmy – she looked up, noticing something was wrong. I picked her up and held her close, held her tight so I might never let her go.

The night would come to an end. I might have two hours, five hours, five years and it would never be enough. Not ever enough.

Could we just pause time, just get Dialga to pause time right where we were? Heaven smells like the soaked forest floor, feels like arcanine fur and an eevee in my arms. Could we just pause time right here, right now, just wait here, stay here, last here forever? I didn't believe in forever and this was why. I liked to say eons. Eons are the closest thing to forever without the infinity, without the pressure to keep away endings. I'd had too many endings to keep saying forever. But here we were in a dent in the granite and a dent in reality, just resting and feeling each other's presence, and I knew that technically our eon was over, technically this wasn't even happening, technically we were all on separate paths already, technically we weren't here like this and would never be ever again – and yet we felt too complete to end.

You make me want to believe in forever.

* * *

Numbly I awoke. Numbly I packed and ate breakfast downstairs before Thomas woke up. By the time he was ready to go, I'd taken everything I'd felt in the dream and shoved it behind me. I didn't have time to deal with this. It would die away.

* * *

We arrived in Jubilife the next evening. It was light enough that I wasn't concerned for my life, but too dark to start looking for Liana on the other route. So we just went for the Center.

I unwrapped my hand. The few open wounds had scabbed over, and the rest of my hand was patchy blue. Brilliant Evelyn poked a bruise.

"Hooooooly hell," I hissed.

Thomas looked up in surprise. "What?" I said.

"I don't know whether to be surprised that you swore, or that you really just said 'holy hell'."

"What's wrong with– okay, first of all, what's wrong with holy hell?"

"What the heck is that?"

"Does it matter? And you're really that surprised that I swore mildly?"

He shrugged. "I've never heard you swear to begin with."

"I mean, I don't swear much around other people," I said, reaching for fresh bandages. "That's about as bad as it gets. I've never heard you swear either."

"Pretty sure I've sworn to Mew."

"That doesn't count. Everyone does that."

"Except you."

"Mew, Arceus, same same. I live in Sinnoh."

We played some board games, almost out of obligation. At eight o'clock it occurred to me that I may as well call Megan. It was earlier than we'd usually called in the past.

She wasn't wearing her glasses when she picked up, so the fact that she was wearing makeup was obvious. "What's the occasion?" I asked, recognizing the top half of the dress she was wearing.

Megan shrugged. "Nothing in particular. I felt like dressing up today."

"Ah."

"Where are you now?" she asked.

"Jubilife, for Liana. I'm looking for her tomorrow."

"Good luck with that."

I shrugged. "I'm just gonna hope and not give up."

Megan grinned. "Stubborn as always."

"I think we established that stubborn isn't a bad thing," I reminded her with mock seriousness.

"Back in the day, when we were fifteen," Megan said. "Evelyn – when did you go back in time?"

If this was what I thought it was, then we'd thought of it at the same time. "February… 20th, I think. No, wait. Three days in Coronet…" I counted off. "The 21st. 21st of February."

"What time on September 4th did you come back?"

"Morning. And on February 21st it was mid-morning."

We both did the math. "17 days after the 21st," I said.

"It's March 10th," said Megan.

We sat there in silence. There was a kind of unbelieving awe at the immenseness of our simple math. She was sitting in her room on September 21st. I was in a vidcall room in Jubilife City on March 10th.

"Mm– No," I decided. "No, when I came back to September, I gave up the old timeline. It's the 21st for me too."

"You still went through the old timeline, though," Megan responded. "So you're older than most people think you are… October 19th."

"What?"

"Your birthday. You're older than Tricia and me now."

She was looking away from the screen, checking her math against a calendar. She didn't notice me staring at her.

Why I was staring... I don't know. There was something... touching? Touching that she went and calculated my birthday, even though I'd seen it coming for the last four minutes. Maybe touching that she'd so wholeheartedly embraced my five-and-a-half-months-out-of-place self and I don't know I'm grasping at straws here, but something about it all eased my heart.

Megan's eyes returned to the screen. "You better come back to Twinleaf that day. You'll be what, seventeen already?"

"Dancing queen, young and oh so sweet," I said, making my ugliest face. "I don't know if I'll have a flying type by then. Mid-October I should be across the region in Veilstone. I mean, I could ask Looker to get me there… well, it'd be a stretch. I don't know. We'll see."

"You've got a togepi egg, right?" Megan checked.

"Yeah– oh. Yeah. I mean, first it's gotta hatch, and then evolve into a togetic, and then I'd have to locate a shiny stone and those are _hella_ expensive, and it's within a month…"

"Don't stress yourself about it," Megan said. "At worst, definitely be in a city so we can vidcall you."

I nodded. Then I remembered that this was assuming Tricia already knew. I really did need to tell her all this.

"For sure," I said.

The conversation drifted to lighter matters, like my newly evolved haunter and some things that happened in Twinleaf that day. We hung up at 9:30, and I headed back upstairs.

"Return," I heard before opening the door. Inside, I found all of Thomas's pokemon out, and a sixth dematerializing and swooping into a pokeball. It was already in its energy form; I couldn't tell what it was.

"How long are you going to hide your sixth?" I huffed, letting my three out.

"What use is a secret benchwarmer if he's not a secret?"

"Aha, it's male."

"Okay…"

"It's not a froslass or a latias, and it's not genderless."

"Congrats."

"Thanks," I said, doing a hair flip like it was a big deal. "Just a few hundred left to eliminate."

Somehow we had enough room for everyone – excluding his mysterious sixth team member – to sleep in there. We'd find Liana in the morning, to join us.

 _Liana in the morning_ , was the thought drifting through my mind as I fell asleep.

* * *

 **The dream references lyrics from Hamilton, _Never Let Me Go_ by Kazuo Ishiguro, and High School Musical 3.**


	18. Shinx Hunting

"See you later," I said as I got up from the table.

"Where are you going?"

I looked blankly at Thomas. "Dude. I'm going to find Liana while you do your business. Remember?"

"Oh, right. See you later."

Shaking my head, I bused my dishes, dropped my egg off at the front desk, and headed out of Jubilife.

* * *

I started off the day with Faith. The instant she was out and in the wild, she started… I think the word is frolicking? She was hovering in midair, as a haunter, but her bouncy, carefree manner was so two-year-old-humanesque that frolicking seemed the only appropriate word to describe it.

We explored the route, occasionally running into wild pokemon who were more interested in battling than I was. We battled them anyways, Faith usually taking them out with one or two nightshade attacks. In between, she flitted about the meadows, occasionally stopping at a patch of grass or trees and yelling out something like "Live oak!" or "Creosote!" or various other words that sounded vaguely like plant names, but which I didn't recognize.

It was a terrible place to be training a ghost type. The route between Sandgem and Jubilife is full of normal types, so Faith wasn't getting any pain tolerance training. Which she probably needed. I ought to get them to battle each other more. Battling Thomas was okay, but it was more like target practice because Thomas didn't attack back. I'm off track. Anyway.

Sometime around 11 I heard a pop at my side, and looked down to find Promise outside his pokeball. He looked stunned, but after realizing what had happened, a wide grin split his face.

I swear. You think you've seen everything as a trainer. Then you see your normally stoic buizel doing flips and springing all over the place in celebration.

Promise went back in his pokeball for another hour. In this time, I spotted a group of shinx from a short distance away. Quickly, I searched for Faith – she was exploring a patch of tall grass about fifty feet to my right.

"Faith," I hissed. "Faith, over here."

She didn't seem to hear me.

"Faith, please?"

Faith sank into the ground. Dammit Faith. I reached behind me to pull out another pokeball.

Suddenly there was an explosion of shinx. Something dark came rocketing out of the ground in the middle of them. Several went flying. A little bit of chaos later, Faith sat (okay, hovered) in the middle of the unconscious shinx. She knew what she was doing after all.

"Wow, nice. Check if any of their tails have a five-pointed star."

One had a three-pointed star, actually, but there were no fives. We headed deeper into the grasslands.

* * *

At noon I exchanged Faith for Promise. The shinxes weren't anything he couldn't handle, even with the type disadvantage.

Promise stuck by me, occasionally checking something out a little farther away, but always staying within twenty feet of me. We ran into two lone shinxes, both of which had four-pointed stars on their tails. One ran away and the other attacked; I had Promise knock the latter down with a watergun.

We took a lunch break at one. Trust and Promise had a chat while Faith wandered around.

I wondered if I was spending too much time looking for Liana. I still had Quasar and Jirra to hunt down, and Emmy to locate in Hearthome. But at the same time, I wasn't willing to give up on her. She was the pokemon I'd had for the longest, since just a day after Bree.

Anyways.

We kept going. For a long time we didn't run into any pokemon besides a few sentrets, and I was getting discouraged, when suddenly a five-pointed star flashed through the foliage.

 _Liana. Oh my lord._

"Prom, watergun!"

His water stream cut through the grass. I heard a yowl, and the shinx sprang at Promise. Fast. She always had been.

"Sonic boom!"

He shook her off and knocked her down with sonic boom, and of course then I saw that it was a male shinx. Black hind paws. Flipping hell.

"Just… sonic boom," I said, not really caring but not really wanting the shinx to retaliate. Promise dealt with him easily from there.

This. Was. Bothering. Me. So. Much. Like. You don't even understand. If we hadn't been walking directionally, I'd have been pacing.

There was so little I could do. There wasn't any way I could ensure Liana was there. There wasn't any way to know flat-out where she was. She'd just been out wandering when I caught her the first time. Oh gee, I thought to myself, would you look at that? It's a shinx. Hey, I should catch this shinx. Wow, what a great damn idea Evelyn.

For crying out loud, she hadn't even been near a landmark. She'd been in the middle of the damned grass. She could have been wandering for hours. There was nothing to go by to find her and it was driving me insane. All I could do was walk in circles around this Arceusforsaken route which I was starting to hate, and beat up the pokemon that were arrogant enough to try fighting me, and in the–

*Sonic boom!*

I jumped. Promise was suddenly in a scuffle with a– a zangoose? Those weren't around here often. Promise fought with his fists and tail; the zangoose fought with deadly claws. A yowl from I-couldn't-tell-who. This wasn't the kind of fight a trainer could step into. Too fast for words to direct.

Promise did end up on top. The zangoose slunk off battered and bruised, but Promise was torn in multiple places.

I looked around for a clue to what happened. "Did he sneak up on us?" I asked Promise.

He nodded. A drop of blood was slithering down his cheek.

I took my backpack off to find potions and bandages. Zangoose could get pretty territorial. I was lucky Promise had responded so fast; unless there was a seviper around, zangoose tended to attack the human first.

I wiped the cut on Prom's face with an antiseptic wipe.

Lucky Prom was there to save the day.

"Promise," I said, a connection forming in my head, "You weren't _mad_ at yourself after the Eterna HQ, were you?"

The look on his face said I was on the right track. Mad probably wasn't the right word, but I was more interested in the root cause.

"Because… I'm sorry if I'm just making assumptions and this is all wrong… was it because you couldn't come out and fight?"

He fidgeted a little, but nodded slowly. Arceus. No wonder he'd stuck by me so much after I landed in the hospital. No wonder he'd been trying so hard to get out of his pokeball lately. When Trust and I were knocked out in the HQ, he was the last one conscious, and he was stuck inside it. The poor fool wanted to protect me.

(Which was half "for crying out loud, I can protect myself," and half really sweet.)

"I named you exactly right, didn't I?" I murmured.

* * *

It was mid-afternoon when I gave Promise a break – almost regretfully, although I knew he could get out of his pokeball if he needed to – and brought out Trust. The sun was starting to get low already, and I was starting to panic a little. Just walking faster, that's all.

"How about," I said to Trust, "you just blaze everything to the ground? Pokemon out of hiding, easy picking."

He looked at me funny.

"You got a better idea? We're almost at Sandgem."

We hit Sandgem, stopped for a snack (and to run Promise through the heal machine), and turned around to look around the route a second time. No pokemon stood a chance against Trust in battle. We met a young girl trainer with a cacnea and a gulpin. Two-hit fight.

The sun slowly set and anxiety steadily rose. We found more shinxes during this time, and not a single one was Liana (I know because Trust beat every one up, and we looked at them all. Most of them attacked first. Don't worry about it.).

"Trust?"

He looked up.

"What if we can't find her?" I felt weak. "What are we gonna do?"

He patted my leg but couldn't reassure me past that. Language barrier. I kept voicing my concerns to him anyway, as the sun sank lower and the world grew darker. We should have headed back to Jubilife by now, but I wasn't done looking. I wasn't giving up before we found Liana.

When the last sliver of sun slid over the hills, I flopped over in the grass. I wasn't giving up. But.

"She's not here, is she," I said. Trust sat beside me.

"I mean, it's trainer season. 'Tis the season to catchemall and probably stop after six or so and then train them up so that someday I'll be battling a random-ass trainer and I'll react the way I did with Owen, just freeze up and get dizzy and let whoever's out get beat up by one of my old best friends."

He patted my shoulder. I sat up and pulled him into my arms. He smelled like dust and roses. I breathed deeply so I wouldn't cry.

"Let's… let's keep going a little longer."

His tailflame gave us a little light, although he had to keep dimming it so he wouldn't burn the grassland to the ground (as convenient as it would be). We stopped running into pokemon entirely. They went to sleep or something.

The last straw was when I tripped over my own damned foot and landed hard on my bruised hand.

I took a deep breath and screamed, "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"

"I thought you didn't swear in public?"

I looked up, surprised. Then I let my face fall back into the dust. "Go away, I don't need rescuing right now."

"Excellent, then you don't need to be mad at me."

He crouched down and held out a hand to help me up. I pushed myself to my elbows and looked him in the eye.

"I'm not done."

"You're still looking? It's past eight."

"I can't give up."

"Evelyn, you've been at this all day."

"She's out there still."

"Come back in the morning," Thomas said. "You've been out all day. Come back tomorrow."

"I'm not giving up."

"That's not what this is. You need to take care of yourself too. Come on. Let's go back to Jubilife."

He held his hand out again. I took it.

* * *

He took better care of me than he should have. I took a shower, and when I got back, he'd brought soup and bread up from downstairs. He helped me rewrap my hand. He'd put my pokemon through the heal machine, had them wash up and fed them too. He'd retrieved my egg from being babysat; the nurse recognized him as my friend. Maybe this counted as rescuing me again, but I didn't think of that until later. There was something else bothering me too much.

"I'm going back tomorrow morning," I said, exhausted.

"Evelyn."

I ate some soup. Drank? Ate, I think. Does it depend on how thick the soup is?

"Have you considered… it's a pokemon you met once and liked. That happens sometimes. It's okay to move on."

I shook my head. "Met once and liked" wasn't accurate at all.

"No, really. And it wasn't for nothing. You must have learned something about pokemon, if your life was impacted enough by this shinx for–"

"Luxray."

"Hm?"

I realized what I'd just said. "Luxray. Liana was my luxray,"

"I know you're still focused on building your team, but–"

" _No_." I shook my head vigorously. "I'm not… I mean, I am, but that's not what I mean. Liana was my luxray, back when… Back when I was a trainer the first time."

Thomas was silent. "I started out as a trainer in September, with a piplup. Bree. I caught a shinx on my second day out. Liana. The growlithe in Eterna Forest was Owen. Plus an eevee and starly and sneasel. Thomas, I time traveled, from next February to early September. That's why I keep slipping up and saying weird things, that's why I hate not being a strong trainer anymore, that's why six random pokemon across the region mean so much to me."

"You – how?"

"Looker. IP agent. They made an app."

" _Why_?"

"We didn't beat Team Galactic. I couldn't take them alone."

"What about Lucas and Dawn? Weren't they involved?"

"Both incapacitated by Galactic. Dawn was in the hospital. Lucas was dead."

He ran a hand through his hair, looking baffled. "It's just… What on earth. I've heard of time travel happening before, so that doesn't surprise me so much. Just, that Galactic got so far. And you were at the center of the fight against them."

I stirred my soup and took a sip – a bite – fuck it.

"But there's a difference between perseverance and pigheadedness."

"Hm?"

"What does your head say?"

"About what."

"Do you think, logically, that you're going to find the shinx again?"

"Yeah."

He raised an eyebrow.

"…well, no, but I have to."

"You could also take the pokemon you have now and befriend them like you did the old ones. It's a new era in your life. It's between that and spending too much time searching for all those needles in haystacks."

Debatably, there were only four needles, max, that I could find and train anymore. And only two spots on my team, unless I rotated them out. Today as a whole didn't make the hunting look good.

Thomas's voice softened. "I know it's hard letting go."

I tensed. "Really?" I said stonily.

"I'm still doing so myself."

I remembered April and loosened up. "Right. Sorry."

"But in the long run, it's for the best."

I nodded contemplatively. Thomas stood. "I'm off to shower now."

"Okay."

He put together a bundle of clothes and walked to the door.

"Thomas?" I said when he was halfway out.

He looked back in. "Yeah?"

"Thanks." I gestured at the soup.

"Sure." The way he said it made it sound like an "of course."

He closed the door.

 _Come back in the_ _morning_ , he'd said. _You've been out all day. Come back tomorrow._

"Tomorrow," I whispered, "and tomorrow, and tomorrow."

I didn't want to leave my friends behind, but there was a lot of circumstance involved. It wasn't a distance thing, like with me and Megan and Tricia. Them, I could talk to often. My pokemon were worlds away, lives away. Bree and Owen were under training as Kenna and Alan; everyone else was with another trainer or off in the wild living their life. None of them remembered me.

We'd meant a lot to each other in the time I had with them. They'd had an impact on my life… perhaps that had to be enough.

I was still making up my mind to definitely head towards Veilstone when a knock on the door made the decision for me.

"It's unlocked."

It wasn't Thomas, like I'd thought. Looker came in, looking frazzled.

"What's going on?" I said, standing up.

"We got it wrong," he said, walking up to me. "The orbs in Hearthome were decoys. Celestic Town has the real ones, and it's crawling with grunts. We need you."

* * *

 **Mm how's that for a melodramatic ending.**

 **At least you don't have to worry about next chapter being a lot of rambling like the last two lmao**


	19. Celestic

Looker and I briefed Thomas on the situation, and we teleported out of Jubilife at midnight. Before I left, Thomas put his hand on my shoulder and leaned in.

"Don't get me wrong," he said. "It's good to not give up. It's just now in particular…"

I nodded and walked out from under his hand. "I understand. Thanks for everything."

I teleported with Looker's IP natu into a small living room, with a fire crackling in the hearth, Lucas not even a foot in front of me–

"Whoa!" I jumped back, hoping the firelight didn't show how red my face was turning. "Uh, hi."

He smiled. "Hey." He was trying not to laugh, I could tell.

"Hey, Evelyn." Dawn was there too.

"Hey."

"All right, now that you all know you're here." Looker said, moving swiftly to the fireplace. A severe-looking woman with gray hair stood there. "Professor Carolina, would you explain the situation?"

"Certainly." She caught my eyes. "Hearthome City had on display fake Adamant and Lustrous Orbs. The real orbs are in a vault in the Celestic Town museum. It's a well-kept secret, although I'd have expected the International Police to be aware of it."

Looker rubbed his temples. There were bags under his eyes. "We can talk about that later."

"Well, somehow Team Galactic _was_ aware of the real orbs' presence, and now they're here. They haven't made a move, but there's spacemen all over the town. We need you to protect the orbs, basically."

"Protect meaning, lie in wait for them to arrive?" I clarified.

"Precisely."

I frowned. I didn't like that. Waiting for an ambush.

"We'd be facing a lot more grunts at once that way," Dawn said. "I don't know how strong they are, but even quantity can overcome quality in this kind of situation."

"She's right," I said. "I'd rather we be proactive than reactive in this situation. It's not only safer, but faster."

Dawn glanced at Lucas. "What do you think?"

I don't know if he was as surprised by her asking his opinion as I was; his face was turned away from me. "Is there a map of the museum vaults?" Lucas asked.

A few minutes later, we stood around a table, leaning over a blueprint of the museum. "Underground we have storage, for old exhibits, collections, whatnot," The professor explained. "In one of the middle rooms–" She traced her finger down the corridor, through a doorway. " –there's an entrance into a lower level vault. It's beneath a rug. The orbs and other items of particular value are locked away here."

"I could get my kadabra to teleport us out with the orbs," Lucas said. "We'd just have to get in."

The professor huffed. "Honestly. People who think our security is lax enough to allow teleportation. There's a teleportation block over the whole museum. Can't have thieves making their getaway that easily."

"Does it turn off?"

"Sure it turns off. And then what, we let Team Galactic teleport whatever they want out of there?"

"We'll just have to be fast then," I said. "Once we get outside the block, we can teleport back here."

We walked in on our own. Professor Carolina gave Dawn the vault number and keycodes and stayed with Looker and my egg. Lucas's kadabra couldn't take more than one person at a time, at his current abilities, but we wanted all of us trainers there for firepower.

The three of us walked across part of town to the museum, sticking mostly to shadows. It wasn't actually that far, but it was enough of a trip to see what the professor meant by "crawling with spacemen." The spacemen in question weren't paying much attention to us (It was late. They were sleepy. Hell, we were sleepy.), but they probably did notice us. Best case scenario, no one cared about three teenagers walking around at midnight.

Dawn checked the inside of her wrist for the first keycode and typed it into the museum's employee entrance. The lock clicked open.

"Hold it right there."

I froze. Lucas and Dawn flinched. For crying out loud.

I turned to face the voice. It was a grunt with a headset, flanked by three other grunts. Easy communication with whatever admin was here; wild card battle, depending on their strength and number of pokemon, especially if they pulled more grunts over.

I calculated quickly. Dawn had the passcodes. Lucas I wanted to keep safe. That left me. I pulled out Trust's pokeball –

"I'll hold them off," Lucas said, "Hurry."

 _Arceus, no, not you_ …

"We need you to teleport us out," Dawn whispered furiously.

"I can't til you're out of the museum anyway," he argued. "Hurry up."

"Lucas, I'll do it, go with Dawn," I said. I couldn't leave him alone with Galactic.

"It's fine, I can handle it."

"Lucas–"

"I said, I can _handle_ it," he said, looking straight at me. I swore he'd heard the fear I didn't say. "Go on."

Dawn took my wrist. "Let's go."

She led the way through the office area, into the hall and down a flight of stairs. Panic buzzed in my nerves, eventually manifesting itself into the thought that finishing the job sooner would mean he was safer.

We found the room, keycoded our way in. The rug Catalina mentioned was underneath boxes, which we moved with Trust's help (my hand was still in questionable shape). Dawn spun the dial on the trapdoor.

 _Go, go, go_ , I thought.

Dark beneath. Dawn fumbled for the lights as I climbed down the metal stairs after her. Trust jumped down, illuminating the room as I shut the trapdoor.

"359, 359," Dawn muttered, scanning the vaults. They looked like filing cabinets of a hundred shapes and sizes.

"Here," I said, tapping one that was twice as long as it was tall. Dawn spun the dial and pulled the drawer out.

The orbs lay side by side on a velvety surface. They were the size of bowling balls, one pearly smooth, the other shining with large facets. They looked like rocks, but as I reached for them, I could tell they were more than that. Power radiated from them, the air around them thicker and warmer. I scooped up the smooth one; Dawn took the other. They were lighter than I thought they'd be, or at least this one was.

"I guess we're done," I said, moderately surprised.

"Yeah," she said, "That was faster than expected."

Closed the locker. Ascended to the first floor of the basement, rearranged the rug and the boxes. Dawn swung open the door –

"Whoa." Lucas jumped back.

"Oh, hey," Dawn said, surprised. "You're here."

"Yeah, thanks for not unlocking the door," Lucas said, gesturing at the doorway between us.

"How'd you get through the other one?"

"The one outside? I watched you punch the code in."

"Okay, well, relevant questions," I cut in, "What's Galactic's status?"

"I beat the grunts that were there, but there's more coming."

We darted silently back up the flight of stairs into the museum office. I heard noises coming from where we'd entered the building. Voices.

"Which way did they go?"

"This way, sir."

 _Sir. An admin. Jupiter's voice._

 _Maps. Who's good at maps? Lucas._

"Lucas, which way is the main entrance of the museum?" I whispered.

He thought about it briefly, then jogged through a doorway. Light feet. Dawn and I followed him through a short hallway and another office room into what looked like the visitor center. Lucas turned around.

"Past here it should be easy, but I don't know it exactly," he said quietly.

We slowed our pace to a walk. I recalled Trust so his tailflame wouldn't make us too visible.

The three of us made it through the geological exhibit explaining Sinnoh's formation and composition. We crept into the biological segment, each of Sinnoh's main biomes on a one-way route. From what I remembered of the map, we were closer to the entrance than the visitor center.

"Visiting hours are over, what are you three doing here?"

We froze; someone stepped out, blinding us with a flashlight. Below the glaring beam, I could see the trousers and mop of a night custodian. "Stealing artifacts, too."

 _Wait. I know that voice._

"Guys, run, he's with Galactic," I said urgently, resisting the urge to push them forward. We ran at him, aiming past–

"You've got it wrong," said Saturn, " _We_ are with Galactic."

Seven or nine grunts stepped out from exhibits around him, blocking our way.

"Well, well," said a voice behind us, "I see they did the dirty work for us."

Jupiter and her crew had caught up, trapping us in the middle of the exhibit. Arceus. "How about you hand us the orbs, and we let you walk away?"

"Fight?" Dawn murmured.

"Absolutely," I said.

The three of us stood back to back to back and released a pokemon each, setting off an all-out brawl in the museum. It was way too small for such, but the grunts still let out too many pokemon. It sort of made our side of the battle easier, since their badly-trained pokemon kept getting in each other's way. After a bunch of zubats managed to confuse each other, they stopped using supersonic.

That being said, they were stronger than I thought they'd be. Faith was down in two minutes, after a swarm of zubats ganged up on her. Lucas's psyduck was thrown into the plants on one side of the exhibit, and even Kenna went down quickly.

Trust took out a couple of zubats with ember and dodged most of their wing attacks, knocking over a ponyta statue in the process. Melody, Dawn's roselia, was using mega drain to stay up. Lucas's snorunt snapped a few arms off a fake machoke before nailing a glameow with an ice shard.

We were winning knockouts on our side, but we still had the admins to go, and they were starting to fight dirty. More than a few zubats aimed for my head; Promise let himself out to blast them away.

"We need to just get out of here," I said.

"How?" Lucas questioned.

I was trying to figure that out. Jumping into the exhibits would slow us down, but we didn't have another way through the grunts. And we'd have to go one at a time, but that would take away firepower in the meantime.

Trust figured it out. He yelled something that Promise seemed to get, and both of them sprang into action. Promise jumped and grabbed the orb in my arms; Trust took Dawn's. They ran easily through the exhibits and out towards the front.

"Lucas, your kadabra–"

He released his pokemon beyond the grunts. "Get them to base!" Lucas called to his kadabra, who nodded and ran after Trust and Promise.

"Croagunk, golbat, after them!" Saturn yelled, sending out two pokemon.

"Still need to get out of here," I said.

"You just want to give up?" Lucas.

"Lucas, assuming each grunt has half their team left, there's like forty more pokemon to battle," I said, getting frustrated, "And last time I fought Jupiter, it already took two of my pokemon."

"It's okay," Dawn cut in, "Our mission was to get the orbs, not defeat Galactic. I've got an idea for getting out."

Initially I hated it, because it opened up a new side of the game. It's not that I didn't think it'd happen – I mean, to some degree it was starting to already – but I didn't want to open it up so soon. But there wasn't a better option.

Amidst the chaos, Lucas and Dawn informed their pokemon one by one about the new plan, swapping them out to keep defending in battle. I told Dawn (no time to ask) to direct Alan at Jupiter, so the other three could aim forward.

"Ready?" Since I didn't have pokemon to direct, I'd become the commander somehow.

"Yep."

"Ready."

"Now!"

Alan let loose a massive flamethrower attack in the back; Melody and Lucas's snorunt and grotle shot ice and leaves forward. Missing the pokemon.

"What the hell?" Saturn growled, shielding his face. The rest of his grunts – and Jupiter's – were crying out, trying to block the flame and razor leaves and stinging ice.

We pushed through the grunts and made a break for it while they were still recoiling from the attack. Dawn and Lucas recalled their pokemon for convenience. Our head start didn't last long; Galactic recovered and came in pursuit. Zubats flew ahead and launched supersonic attacks at us – covering our ears, we charged through. I punched a zubat out of the air. Hell, we were already breaking the rules, might as well go all the way.

We sprinted through the rest of the exhibit, reached the entrance hall, and made it outside to find Trust and Promise fighting Saturn's croagunk and golbat. Kadabra and the orbs were nowhere to be found.

Lucas's kadabra reappeared a split second later. " _Damn_ it," I groaned. "Who goes first?" This again.

"Dawn, go," Lucas said, "Evelyn and I have pokemon out." Dawn touched hands with the kadabra and vanished. All the grunts had caught up now.

I jumped into Trust and Promise's battle, while Lucas released his snorunt and grotle again. "Promise, focus on the golbat, Trust, on the croagunk," I directed them. "Watergun, ember!"

The golbat dodged, croagunk withstood it. Promise's waterpunch hit but the golbat was easily still flying, Trust's flame wheel did as much as it would have against a gym leader.

Why was Galactic already so strong?

Lucas's kadabra was back, now with the IP natu Looker had brought. "Return," I called, cutting the battle short. I scooped up the natu – Lucas took his kadabra's hand – "Get them!" I heard – grunts lunged but would never be fast enough before we disappeared – never have been fast enough if not for my hair.

"Get off me!" I kneed her in the stomach. She grunted but didn't let go. Lucas was gone; the natu couldn't teleport two people at once. "Trust, mach punch!" I yelled, trying to shake the grunt off. Two pokeballs burst open, and Trust rammed his fist into her stomach. It knocked her grunt back, but she kept her grip and yanked my head back with her–

I gasped, turning cold from the suddenly chilly night air. Spinning snowy void Dawn fell through. I was sinking. This time I pulled myself out.

Promise kept the other grunts from advancing with wild waterguns. "Trust," I shouted, pointing at my hair. He got it. I knew he would. He blasted fire at the grunt's hands – she recoiled from my burning hair.

"Return," I said, and as soon as they were in we were gone, back to the cabin.

"AHHH YOU'RE ON FIRE!"

A few moments of pandemonium in which Lucas's snorunt tried to freeze my head off. "I have a buizel," I forced through my frosty face.

"Are we safe here?" Dawn asked Looker.

"Not very. We're moving out right now. Lyn, take the orbs."

They were on the couch right behind me. I started to scoop them up. "Where are we OWWW!"

I dropped the orb. One orb. The faceted one that I hadn't carried before. I looked at my hand, which was bright red from the encounter. The thing was _burning_.

"Are you all right?"

"It burned me…"

Dawn picked it off the ground. I glared at the demonic orb. She held it out to Lucas, who poked it with a finger. "I'm fine with it too."

"Nothing happens with this orb," I said, gesturing at the smooth orb resting in the arm with a bandaged hand. Damn, now both my hands were injured.

"Only the Adamant Orb burns you?" Looker asked.

We exchanged a look. Only the orb associated with time.

"Anyway," I said. "Let's get out of here."

* * *

 _I was too frozen to move. Jupiter yanked me by the hair over to the cliff. "No," I said, panicking, "Arceus, no, no…"_

 _She shoved me down and planted her boot on my calf. I faced empty space from the knees up; all that kept me from falling was that boot and the hand in my hair._

 _"Interesting," Jupiter murmured, lowering my head over the side of the cliff. I reached for the cliff edge but couldn't get a hold. "You're not usually like this. I think we've found one who's afraid of heights."_

 _I stopped speaking to try and calm my breathing as she kept lowering me by the hair. Most of my body was over the edge too far, looking down into the spiraling snowy void Dawn had disappeared into._

 _Jupiter let go; I screamed a hoarse scream, but my head almost instantly was yanked back by the hair. She'd faked out. She was laughing._

 _"Ah…" With a sudden jerk, she flung me, breathing heavily, back onto the snow. "I'll let you go. I'd like to see you later, at Spear Pillar, and I can't do that if you're dead."_

 _Jupiter stalked off without another word, and my spinning head spun into darkness._

* * *

 **First Monday update because FF dot net was being a _butthead_ and wouldn't let me actually upload to doc manager til like 1 am Monday ugh.**

 **Yeah so not my favorite chapter, but I'm decently satisfied with it. Leave a review to let me know what I'm doing right or what I could do better, or just to say hey.**


	20. Suddenly, Veilstone

**Lolwut updating on a Monday what is this madness**

 **I'm at orientation rn, and yesterday I didn't have enough time to update. So, Monday update. Ywvm.**

 **Lol enjoy.**

* * *

Looker handed my egg bag back to me when I arrived: we were in Veilstone.

"I'll take these." He took the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs in his (gloved) hands and nodded. "Thank you guys. Go ahead and check in. I need to talk to you in the morning, but get some sleep first."

I checked my poketch – it was 1:30 am. Dawn and Lucas and I walked into the Pokemon Center and checked into an empty room. I'd thawed out from Lucas's snorunt attack, but the overnight nurse at the front desk kept glancing at me funny.

 _It's my hair_ , I finally realized. I reached up to touch it – it was uneven, rough, brittle at the burnt ends.

"Wild encounter?" the nurse finally asked.

"No, my monferno," I said. "He was confused," I added, so she wouldn't think I had a feral pokemon on my hands.

While they got settled in the room, I went to the floor's bathroom and ran my burned hand under the tap. I knelt there with my hand in lukewarm warm, staring into my reflection, still thinking about what happened after Azelf killed Lucas.

Grief hadn't set it yet – not so much as panic and denial had. But Dawn was still fighting Jupiter at Lake Acuity, so Looker teleported me to Snowpoint. It went badly – she had almost lost already, and my pokemon were in bad shape because I hadn't stopped to heal – but it was especially bad because I couldn't think straight.

When we lost, Jupiter caught Dawn off guard and pulled her to the edge of the cliff. Dawn and I both tried fighting her off, but I was unprepared for the cold besides a thin jacket and thus frozen stiff, and Jupiter was stronger than Dawn. Jupiter threw Dawn off the edge and almost dragged me over too. By the hair.

When I woke up, I headed to the bottom of the cliff and found Dawn. I wrapped the open break on her leg in my jacket and called for help. They treated me for hypothermia, Dawn for broken bones. Her leg was the worst. It was messy and kept healing wrong or getting infected and she was still in the hospital a month later, when I climbed Mount Coronet. But she'd have been dead if not for the snow slowing her fall.

My hand wasn't getting any better. I turned off the faucet and went downstairs to research Veilstone hair salon hours.

* * *

At half past ten, I walked out of a salon near the Veilstone Gym. It wasn't the earliest open, but they did offer a nice trainer discount.

When I arrived back at the center, Lucas and Dawn were already starting training. Lucas saw me first, and did a sort of double take. He paused to look, the way you do when you're caught off guard by something pretty.

Don't mind me, I'm just happy.

"It's so cute!" Dawn exclaimed.

I instinctively reached up to touch the ends, which hovered a bit above my shoulders. "Thanks."

"Looker's waiting in the lobby," she went on, withdrawing Alan from the battlefield.

We met up with him and moved to the meteorite park to talk. He looked like he hadn't slept a wink. I questioned him about it.

"Hm? No, I suppose I didn't."

"You've got to look out for your health, too," I said, with the affectation of a stern mother. Looker glanced at me, surprised, and chuckled.

"Well, I had to get the orbs to safety. But we've moved on past that. Lyn, you remember the recording you took in Eterna?"

"Of course."

"The man who sold Jupiter information said that most any related legendary pokemon would speed up the formation of the red chain. Dialga and Palkia's orbs were two, but any other could give Galactic the same boost."

"What else is related, then?" Dawn asked.

Looker grimaced. "Directly, Giratina is the only other. But myths have a tendency to be linked, and there's a whole host of legendary pokemon in the Sinnoh region. Stark Mountain is famously home to a heatran. I need to research it more fully, but be prepared to go through something similar to last night in the future."

Dawn looked nervous, but Lucas's face stayed stoic. I already knew what we were in for, so it wasn't news to me.

"That's all. Lyn, stay a sec."

"See you later," I said to them. They got up and left in the same direction. It struck me as odd how often they were together still, despite being on separate journeys.

"What is it?" I asked him. Looker gestured at a park bench nearby us; we sank onto the seat.

"I brought that up because of other things that happened last time around," he said. "There was a whole host of pokemon disappearances. The legendary guardians of locations throughout Sinnoh kept suddenly vanishing."

I frowned. "So… they're _all_ related?"

"It's possible." Looker pulled a little black book out of his trenchcoat. "I have a rough outline of when they were – I write down pokemon thefts for the IP, but I didn't think these were related to Galactic. The timing could change, but…"

"It's great," I said happily. "Arceus. This is great."

I pulled the diary he'd given me out of my bag. Looker took it and started to copy some of the dates over.

"That's not the only reason I wanted to talk to you," he said seriously.  
"What else?"

Looker reached for my arm. I held it out – he flipped it palmside up. My hand was still red from where I'd touched the Adamant Orb.

"First degree," he diagnosed, letting go. He rummaged through his pockets. "Not too bad. Where… Here it is."

It was a small tube of green gel. "You carry aloe vera with you?" I giggled. It was useful but random.

"No, I got it this morning. Take it."

I stopped laughing and accepted the offer. "You… Thanks."

"No problem. How are you doing, other than that?"

I unscrewed the cap and squeezed a little bit of the cool gel onto my burnt hand. "Uh… Well, my other hand is getting better. I'll probably take the bandage off soon."

"That's not what I meant, but I _was_ wondering about that. What happened?"

A nightmare, a death I didn't want to see, Thomas patching me up in more ways than one. "I hit a nightstand while trying to escape a nightmare," I said.

Looker frowned. "That dream again?"

"Yeah. It's not every night anymore."

"You've talked to… Megan, didn't you?"

"A little. Not that much about the incident itself. Everything all together is a lot to tell."

"Mm." He clicked his pen and started double checking the dates he'd written. "I recommend you do. It'll help."

"But it's going away."

"Is it?" He gestured at my still-bandaged hand.

"That's not fair…"

"All's fair in love and war, and this is a little of both."

"A lot of both," I said, glancing in the direction Lucas had gone. "Anyways, enough about my health. Go to sleep."

"What's with the sudden concern about my sleep habits?"

"You look exhausted."

"I'm fine. I'll take a nap after this." Looker finished writing and handed the book to me. It was open to November's page, which I skimmed.

"The Regis?"

"Reportedly disappeared from their respective locations, mid-November, Regigigas a week after the others."

"How are they related?"

"They might not be. My guess is Galactic was grasping at straws. But as long as we know they're going to be stolen, we may as well stop it from happening."

I nodded and flipped back. October was four more thefts. "If they can catch all these legendary pokemon, why would they need the Red Chain?" I wondered.

"Catching and controlling are two different things," Looker explained. "The Red Chain does both, but if the legendaries' presence was all that's needed, then a master ball would work just as well."

"And for the Lake Trio to summon Dialga and Palkia, Galactic needs to control them," I added.

"Exactly."

My eyes fell on a date labeled "Heat Stone, Stark Mountain." October 19th.

"Oh, no," I groaned.

"What is it?"

"October 19th is my birthday."

Looker looked puzzled. "Wasn't it in April?"

"My new birthday. I figured it out with Megan." Speaking of which.

"Have _you_ actually talked to anyone about this?" I asked him.

"About…?"

"Time travel. You keep making sure I'm talking to people, but have you?"

"There's no one I'd contact."

"At all? Anyone back home?"

"IP agents cut off relations," Looker said.

"To prevent personal leverage?"

"Yes indeed."

I leaned back. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. From what I remembered of cutting off everyone but Looker, it kind of sucked. And if there wasn't something like fear motivating you on a personal level to keep your distance… well, I guess there was fear here.

"What relations did you have?" I asked him.

He inhaled and looked at the sky. "Parents," he said. "A younger brother. A few friends. No one particularly close."

"You'll never see them again?"

"Once I retire."

"That's ages away…"

Looker caught my eye, a laugh sparkling in his. "Thanks for the compliment, but we retire before sixty-five in the IP. Maybe forty, mid-forties. If we want we can stay for HQ work, but there's already enough of them."

"Still! What if… Hell, you're in a dangerous position. What if… what if you didn't… not that you… but if…"

He noticed. "What?"

I exhaled. "I keep thinking about the Adamant Orb. The time orb attacked a girl who went against the natural flow of time. We might be screwed."

"Time travel's been done before," Looker said. "Celebi-related events, et cetera. They end up fine. I wouldn't worry too much about it."

"I guess…"

Looker reached out and, in a gesture unlike him, awkwardly patted my shoulder. "Worst case scenario, we're in this together."

I wanted to laugh at his sudden move. Instead, I smiled and said, "Okay. Thanks. It's nothing, probably. But thanks."

* * *

Looker and I chatted a little more, but I was determined to make him go to sleep. So eventually he left. I won. Hah.

I called Megan again. A lot had happened in the last two days (day and night, really, but it felt like two days), so I figured I'd bring her up to speed. The last she knew was that I was going to go find Liana, in Jubilife, so I told her about not finding my shinx, and about last night's Celestic adventure.

"That… all happened very quickly," she commented in surprise.

I laughed. "Sounds about right. Sometimes being a trainer is slow, other times five things happen in a day. But it's never boring."

My mood dropped quickly as I remembered how quickly other things had happened. "Can I… sorry, this is just me talking about my problems a lot… can I tell you what happened that day?"

"What day?"

"The day Lucas died."

"Sure."

 _You're welcome, Looker_ , I thought.

It wasn't practiced, like the last story I'd told her. I still knew it fairly well because I'd relived it at night so many times. It went from the bomb while we were in Canalave, to Lake Verity, to Lucas at Lake Valor, to Dawn at Lake Acuity. I mentioned my hair.

"So that's why you got a haircut."

"Yup. Unfortunately."

"It's cute though. I like it."

I did a light hair flip. "Thanks."

"Do you get nightmares still?"

"Not so much. This happened last time I did," I said, raising my now unbandaged but still slightly yellow-purple hand.

"Are you… Are you okay with things right now?"

"Like…?" I kind of did get what she meant.

"…like the aftermath of it all."

"Yeah. I cut everyone off and spent almost a month in Celestic. Things have been better since Lucas came back to life."

"So," she said after a short pause, "your old pokemon… are you giving up on them entirely? Or…"

"I'm not going back to look for Liana," I said almost easily. "If I find her somehow that's great… Unlikely though. I might find my starly at Lake Valor, eevee in Hearthome, or sneasel somewhere in Mount Coronet. But I'm not looking for them so actively anymore."

"I hope you find them, still," Megan said.

Exhale. "Yeah," I said. "Me too."

* * *

 **Leave a review if you're reading :) I want to get something out of this too lol**


	21. Hope

I turned and strode toward the other end of the battlefield, quietly taking a deep breath. This was my first battle against Lucas since my second chance.

 _Chance at what?_ I wondered, taken by surprise by my own wording.

 _Chance at… Being a trainer I guess. Defeating Galactic. Keeping my friends. It's Lucas's second chance at living._

Which, of course, didn't mean I would hold back.

"Three on three?"

"Sounds good," I called back, picking a ball.

We released our choices: Promise versus his kadabra.

"Go for it," I said.

"Ladies first."

I rolled my eyes, grinning. "Prom, watergun."

"Confusion."

Promise launched his water attack, only to have it deflected to the side by the psychic move.

"Sonic boom, then."

Promise whipped his tail around, but apparently Kadabra hadn't just deflected the watergun? Because now the water was coming around front like a shield, absorbing the hit.

 _Damn, that takes finesse_ , I thought, marveling at how well Kadabra's psychic skills were coming along.

"Shock wave," I heard him say. Kadabra dropped the water shield.

 _Oh shit that might be bad._

"Brace yourself."

Promise didn't get it and tried to dodge. Shock wave always hits. So he was a bit surprised and quite unprepared for the attack.

"BUI!"

"You okay?" Short unconvincing confirmation. "Watergun."

"Teleport."

Promise's watergun missed by a mile; Kadabra was behind him now. "Sonic boom downward," I tried.

"Teleport."

The impact sent a wave of dust outward from where Promise was, like a ripple or a small ground attack. Kadabra teleported a few feet into the air, landing after it had passed.

"Water gun, you can do it." If Prom attacked harder it'd work.

"Teleport and confusion."

Kadabra dodged the water and reappeared behind Promise. He aimed his spoon at the base of Promise's head – Promise glowed pink and toppled over. He stumbled back to his feet but – flipping hell – he was confused.

"Shock wave."

I kept yelling commands at Promise, trying to figure out something that would work. But at this point he was no match for Kadabra, who took him out easily with electric attacks.

"Return," I said. "Rest up, Prom."

Lucas was already holding his next pokeball. "Ready?"

"Yeah. It's yours, Faith!"

"Snorunt, bite!"

"Faith, sucker punch!"

Faith hit first with a pretty good punch; Snorunt flinched. "Hypnosis," I called out.

"Powder snow!"

They launched their moves through each other. I held my breath. Hypnosis hit dead-on (haha get it Faith is a ghost), and powder snow went right through Faith. I wasn't sure if that was good or bad. When the ice cleared, I realized Faith was frozen in a block of ice.

"It's all right, Faith, just wait it out," I said.

It was one of those frozen moments on a battlefield (get it because ice… ok, I'll stop). Lucas and I tensely watched the field, waiting to see which pokemon would escape their affliction first.

Half a minute later, I noticed the dark gas inside the ice chunk was growing lighter. It took me a few seconds to figure out what was going on. Faith was phasing her way out.

"Nightshade!" I called. "Use hypnosis when he wakes up!"

It worked. It wouldn't have gone so well if she'd noticed Snorunt stirring later, or if he had the stamina to last longer, but as things stood he was knocked out for good after just a few more hits.

"Return."

"Nice one, Faith."

We were down to the final two. I looked across the battlefield and smiled at the boy across from me. He smiled back with his eyes – an expression of mischief.

"Bet you don't know my next pick," he said.

That puzzled me. It was between a psyduck and a grotle, and I was sending out a fire type… But it didn't really matter, since I only had one option anyways.

"I'll just have to see," I told him. "Trust, it's yours!"

He threw his pokeball without a word; it was his grotle. I didn't understand why, but tried to focus on getting the fight done.

"Flame wheel!"

"Take the hit."

I watched Trust barrel right into Grotle's shell. Hmm. There was a bit of a Withdraw move there, which helped defensively, but it was a weird game to play against fire.

"Trust, again, go for the underside."

"Down. Get ready."

I steeled myself. Lucas called out weird things in battle sometimes. I didn't remember what this one meant.

Trust was about to reach him when Grotle pushed herself onto her hind legs. She came back down on Trust, who didn't quite slip through. The flames stopped abruptly.

"Now!"

Suddenly, Trust sank into the ground. Sand tomb? Under Dawn's care, she hadn't known sand tomb.

"Trust, ember."

"Block him!"

Rather than let Trust's attack hit from below, Grotle hit the deck, keeping her shell in Trust's view. The ember did hit, but did less than it would have.

"Bite."

"Ember."

Trust was sinking further and further into the sand tomb, losing mobility. He was an easy target for Grotle's attacks, which Lucas took advantage of. His grotle snapped at Trust, snagging his limbs even when he tried to pull away. Trust was crying out, trying harder to evade Grotle's bites than attack back.

"Blast her in the face," I said desperately.

Grotle's last bite was a solid crunch into Trust's shoulder, at which point he fell limp. She let him down gently.

"You did well, Trust," I said, recalling him.

Lucas and I met in the middle of the battlefield. "That was a decent match," he said seriously.

I wanted to laugh at that. I loved the realism of that statement – it really hadn't been spectacular as a battle, but it was better than basic. Although decent wasn't fully accurate.

"Decent until the final round," I said. "Trust's never fainted in battle before. That bit was impressive on your end. Let's say… Slightly above average."

He was grinning. "Your haunter was pretty good though. She nailed the hypnosis strategy. And floating through the ice – that was sneaky. I think she can get away with some fun stuff in battle."

I paused to consider that. I guess it was true. I hadn't thought too hard about her abilities as a gaseous being.

"How come you had your buizel keep using watergun?"

I blinked. "I wasn't aware it was a problem."

"It's not really. It was just different from… It's like–" Lucas moved his thumbs like he was playing a video game on a console. "–like you were just spamming the same move."

"Oh." I frowned. Why _did_ I do that? "I'll have to think about that one."

* * *

It was a Friday. Tricia got off her internship early on Fridays, so I called her first.

"So, how's it going with…" Tricia waggled her eyebrows. This was halfway through our conversation.

"It's going all right. He and I were alone for a while today."

"Ooh. Anything happen?"

"Not really. He beat me in battle, and then we went to eat. It was nice just hanging out."

"You went out with him?"

"I mean…" I kind of did. "It's not like it meant anything. We're in another city, and I was the only person he knows here."

The screen wiggled around as she adjusted her laptop. "I guess. Still, both of you got picked to be trainers, same town, same time… It's like you're meant to be."

I smiled at Tricia's optimism. I had to admit, I liked the poetic justice it set up.

"We did get pretty close last time," I agreed, thinking of the Trainer Ball at Lake Valor.

"When?"

I fucked up.

"Last time we were in the same town together," I answered smoothly.

 _Tell her, just tell her._

"Oh. Wow, things are moving fast."

 _Tell her, dammit._

"I mean, I'm probably overestimating it," I said, so that she wouldn't think we were closer than we really were.

 _Why can't you just tell her? You told Megan. Tricia's your best friend too._

"I'm still super excited for you. Your chances are _gigantic_."

 _I can't just… She's so optimistic. She sees the world in bright colors, and I've just returned from a world of ice and death and loss. I can't just… I can't._

"I hope you're right."

* * *

Lucas wanted to train on his own in the evening (I asked if he wanted a sparring partner again. He declined.). Having little else to do, I started to wander the city with my pokemon out.

Veilstone lives up to its name quite well: the whole city is cobbled in varying degrees of bumpiness, and the buildings are largely concrete and stone. It's a very gray city, but the different shades of reddish and bluish add a little variety. And it's beautiful in the rain, from what I remember. Right now it was just overcast, but it rained last time I was in the city, and I was pretty sure I was right on schedule.

I kept such a wide berth between us and Galactic's Warehouse, we finished crossing the city within an hour or so. The Pokemon Center was the closest we got to the Warehouse; we never went to the Department Store.

We stopped at a fountain outside the gym. It was a giant one, a circle the width of a basketball court. Water-type pokemon statues around the brim shot water towards the center, where there was a statue of two humans and a few pokemon playing together. The harmony between humans and pokemon and whatnot. It's a very typical theme.

Typical or not, it was still my favorite fountain in Sinnoh, at least of what I'd seen. Faith found a flock of starlies to play with. They were bathing in the water. She'd rise up from the shadows below and they'd try to splash her. I took note that haunters don't need to breathe.

Trust leaped from statue to statue, sort of playing "the floor is not lava but water and he's a fire type." He was light enough that I wasn't concerned for the statues. And anyway, the statues were probably carved knowing pokemon would play here.

Promise was swimming laps around the rim. Bree would've probably gone under one of the streams of water and relaxed there. She didn't relax much, but fountains for some reason calmed her down.

I sat down on the ledge between a seel and quagsire statue and checked out Looker's diary again. I wanted to add in a few events I remembered. There was definitely a tournament in the first weekend of November. I beat the Pastoria Gym on November 15th, my dad's birthday. That was also the day Galactic tested their bomb in the Great Marsh, but since we were siphoning their energy away, that probably wouldn't happen just yet. And of course the tournament at Lake Valor began on the 21st of December.

Promise emerged from the water behind me and looked at what I was writing. "I'm just adding stuff," I told him. "I'm not completely sure whether to put some things, though. Like, the bomb test won't likely be on the same day. And other Galactic things. And I don't fully remember when I got to new towns or did gym battles. But things are different this time around anyways."

He watched a little while longer, then slipped back into the water and kept swimming. Bree got bored quickly; she'd have changed what she was doing by now.

 _Why am I comparing him to Bree?_ I wondered.

I stood up suddenly. The diary and my pen went crashing to the ground. I watched Promise circle the pool.

 _I always had Bree use lots of water moves._

I remembered how Promise fought when I told him to go wild. He got up close and used physical moves. The only water he used was incorporated in punches.

Bree's best move was hydro pump. Near the end, her hydro pumps could take out pokemon in a single hit. It was just a matter of hitting at all, for her. I guess you could say sometimes I just had her spam the move until it hit.

And herein lay the problem. Promise was not Bree. Yet I fought like he was.

 _That's gonna have to change in the future._

I knelt down to pick up the things I'd dropped. The future. What a foreign idea. I'd been thinking nonstop about the past.

 _The future doesn't look so bad_ , I realized. Trust soared between statues with youthful grace. Faith snuck up on starlies with her ghostly stealth. And Promise, who swam swift circles around the fountain, was a damn good fighter when I let him fight correctly.

And loyal as hell. He surfaced again in front of me. I smiled and patted his head.

And lo and behold, a glow finally arose from my egg bag.

I quickly opened the drawstring opening and pulled it out. It was warm and twitching, and glowing so brightly I couldn't see the blue and red patterns on the shell. I closed my eyes as the glow intensified.

"Prrrrrri~" I heard.

Opening my eyes, I found a togepi sitting on my lap. Her smile broadened when our eyes met. "Prrrri~" she chirped again.

Promise and I exchanged a look of… happiness, really. We'd just shared a little miracle. For the first time, I knew what to name the pokemon in front of me.

"Hello, Hope," I said to the togepi. "Welcome to the world."


	22. Fighting Lessons

Sunday night was a dream I'd never had. I'd tell you it was because the memory is so vivid I don't need to dream about it, but believe me when I say I don't need to dream about Lucas's death, either.

This one happened at Lake Valor, too. But it was when the lake was clear and full and sparkling with moonlight.

Winter, a few days before Christmas, but the ballroom was warm and most of the ladies didn't wear more than a shawl over their gowns. The Trainer Ball. Known officially as the Lake Valor Tournament Gala, but colloquially called the Trainer Ball because it sounds like a kiddie sport.

I found him and stepped down the staircase. He was across the room, on his own in light formal wear. I wove through the crowd surrounding the dance floor, breathing deeply and slowly to prevent myself from blushing.

Lucas turned and smiled. It was a relaxed smile; we were well over a month after Galactic tested out their bomb in the Great Marsh, and the lull in activity made it easy to forget we were waiting for their next move. All was… quite well.

But like I said, he turned and we locked eyes, (and may I mention he looks lovely in a vest and tie,) and he smiled like he was actually having a decent time here. He'd been reluctant to go ("I don't dance"), but I'd persuaded him.

I wasn't sure I could persuade him of this. My heart was beating fast and light. "How's it going?" I asked him.

"It's going fine," he said with a mild nod.

The music changed like I knew it would – a slow song. My heartbeat thumped wildly in my ears. I was turning bright red, wasn't I.

"Hey, um…" A panicked string of cuss words ran through my head, taking up time.

But he waited for me to speak with the gentle patience I had grown to associate with him, and when our lines of sight crossed, his eyes caught mine. In three seconds my mind was clear enough to proceed.

I gave a smile that was a mix of gratitude for what he didn't know he'd done, apology for what he didn't know was happening, and a "Hey. It's me." I breathed.

"Lucas."

"Yes?"

"Will…" Breathe, Evelyn, _breathe._ "May I have this dance?"

The corners of his mouth stretched up. "Sure," he said.

So we moved to the dance floor and positioned ourselves the way couples did in high school: hands-on-shoulders, hands-on-waist. I was nervous about getting too close the whole time, but he seemed relaxed where we were.

It was lovely. If you haven't yet danced with someone you love, there's an ease of heart and an ease of shoulders involved in holding them just a little less than arm's length away. We kept making eye contact and then looking away. I wasn't sure I could handle that much of him at once.

When it was over I looked at him and said, "Thank you for the dance."

And he said, "Anytime."

And never had I considered so seriously that perhaps he liked me as well. His eyes were shining.

* * *

I remembered: I'd have loved to hug him, but Lucas Tristan didn't much care for physical touch. It was asking for too much, anyways. I'd loved slowdancing with him.

I met him downstairs the next morning. His eyes were lighter, warmer in real life. I'm very sorry-not-sorry about how often I talk about his eyes.

"Hey," I said. He nodded a greeting.

Over the last few days, Dawn had been out training on the routes fairly regularly. She'd come back with a spoink (Eliza, a sweetheart as far as I could tell) and a scyther (Eric, my first impression of whom was neutral, and my second impression of whom was "well fuck you too") on two different days. Lucas and I trained together and separately; Trust was getting flamethrower more reliably, his kadabra was reacting faster, we were still about evenly matched.

Promise, by the way, was trying to steal my baby. He looked after Hope constantly, played games with her with little jets of water, had begun to sleep with his long body curled around her. It make me a bit uneasy because… well, _I_ was supposed to be looking after her, and I was concerned Promise was trying to take on too many protectees. But she was likely in better hands this way (paws, hah).

"Any plans today?" he asked as we headed to the cafeteria for breakfast.

"I was thinking I'd go to the gym," I said. "Not to battle," I added, because he looked so shocked at the thought. Gyms get exponentially harder between badges. "To see if I can get fighting lessons or something."

"Oh. Nice."

"What are you doing today?"

"Going south to train. I was thinking I'd hitch a ride to Lake Valor."

I tensed. "O-okay," I said.

Lucas looked at me quizzically. "It's nothing," I said, trying to brush the flashbacks away. It was nothing this time around. Nothing happened at Lake Valor this time around. It's fine. I'm fine.

But we split up in the dining hall briefly because he went to get coffee and I wanted an apple, and the sudden surge of nerves almost made my knees buckle.

 _Arceus, it's fine_, I scolded myself.

The image of bright crimson eyes in the cave made me shudder.

 _Logic, where are you?_ groaned the logical part of me.

Okay. No big deal. He'd be fine.

I brought fruit back to the table he'd picked out. He'd picked out a muffin as well as the coffee. "Mm, so healthy," I joked. Lucas raised his mug as a sort of "Yup, cheers."

"So what are you doing around Valor?" I asked, pulling out a chair.

"Mostly training. I might catch a fire type."

I nodded. There were houndours around Lake Valor. They had a tendency to be a bit evil, but as I'd once caught a sneasel that was practically the devil incarnate, I wasn't one to talk.

"Any idea which part of the area?" Maybe he'd avoid the lake altogether.

"Not really. Never been there."

"Mm… If you go up the hill, you'll hit some cliffs," I warned him. "There's really not enough warning. Just be careful."

He sipped his coffee. Once he finished, he headed out.

* * *

The gym was closed when I arrived, but Maylene came jogging up within a few minutes.

"Hey there," she said, breathing deeply, "Sorry about the wait."

"It's no problem." I checked my poketch just to be sure; it was one minute before the gym opened.

"Are you here for a battle?" Maylene asked, unlocking the door.

"Um… Actually, I was wondering if you could teach me how to fight."

She looked up in surprise. There was a hint of amusement on her face. "You're a trainer, aren't you? How long are you in town for?"

"…Probably another half a week, or a week, max."

"There's a limit to what I can do, then. These things take time."

"Anything will help."

She smiled. "Come on in."

Over the course of the morning she taught me general things – keep your arms near your head to defend it, throw your weight into your punches– and threw in a few random tips. I wouldn't have thought to curl my knuckles asymmetrically on my own. It does more damage than a flat line, evidently. My pokemon took care of themselves (Promise and Trust took care of Faith and Hope) in the room next door.

"Am I taking too much of your time?" I asked when we took a break for lunch at 2 pm.

"No, no, it's fine," Maylene insisted. "As long as there isn't a challenger, there's nothing to worry about. Besides, I'd be lonely otherwise."

This surprised me. I tried to recall what I'd known about Maylene in the past: youngest gym leader, at only 18 years old, and she had taken over the Veilstone gym only recently… um… what else…

"I'm new to the area," Maylene said. "I haven't met many people yet."

"Where are you from?" I'd assumed she was a Veilstone native.

"Snowpoint. Do you know Candice? She's a good friend of mine."

"I've heard of her, yeah."

Maylene nodded distractedly. "Yeah. There… There was an opening for a gym here, so…"

After lunch she went over some footwork – mostly the idea of constant motion, and bouncing back and forth to enable lateral motion at any time. I left at five (Lucas had arrived back in Veilstone safely, thank Arceus) and returned the next morning, when she taught me two kinds of kicks.

"Okay," she said. "Lunch break."

I looked at the clock on the wall. It hadn't even been an hour.

"The thing is," she said as we ate lunch, "I don't want to teach you a ton of things in this half week or so. I'd rather teach you a few useful things and then make you practice them."

I got it. "Like that saying," I said. "It's better to know one kick and practice it a thousand times than knowing a thousand kicks and practicing each once."

"Right on."

I must have done at least a few hundred of those thousand kicks – and punches – that afternoon. Soreness was kicking in by the next morning, and I wasn't able to get to the gym until early afternoon.

Maylene was sparring with one of the four black belt trainers when I arrived. I watched her fight – ducking under his blows almost before they happened, moving with a light quickness I'd have assumed lacked physical strength behind it. But she soon proved me wrong, somehow managing to flip the much larger trainer over her shoulder onto the ground.

She looked up. I was now a bit intimidated. "Ah, hey."

"Sorry I'm late," I said. "I was really sore this morning." It felt like an excuse.

"That's all right. I had time to fight this guy." Maylene turned to the man on the ground. "Thanks, Colby."

He got up slowly, making a big deal about groaning in pain. "Don't get too good," he warned me, "or else she'll make you stay and beat you up, too."

"I wasn't trying to _beat you up_ ," she protested. "I wanted to _fight_."

"Same difference, unfortunately," Colby shrugged.

Maylene giggled quietly when he was out of the room. "I actually really like having them around," she said. "At least one of them is always available to spar with. I fight my lucario, too, but we've gotten too used to each other. Anyways. Do you have any fighting type pokemon?" Maylene asked me.

"I have a monferno."

I fetched him from where they were all playing (I'd expected it to be Faith and Hope messing around and Promise and Trust babysitting, but it looked like they were all enjoying themselves). Maylene had me practice fighting against Trust. Dodging, at first. Then Maylene gave us both protective gear ("Because you're new") and let us pretty much go at it.

It wasn't easy because he was such a small target, even though I'm _convinced_ he went super easy on me. And he didn't hit that fast, but he hit _hard._ I did go from landing nothing to landing a hit once in a while… Which I guess was good?

A black belt poked his head in while Trust and I sparred. "Call from Snowpoint," he said.

Trust and I had hit a lull, so we were both paying attention and noticed when Maylene's face darkened. "I'm busy," she said.

"You can't keep–"

"I'm _busy_ ," she snapped. "And don't tell the gym leader what to do."

When he left and closed the door, Maylene sighed. "Sorry about that," she said to me. "Raphael can get annoyingly insistent if I don't stop him."

* * *

I arrived back at the Center to find Lucas and Dawn sitting unusually close together. Lucas had his arm around her; her head was on his shoulder.

I'd have left them be, even though jealousy made my stomach squirm. But Dawn looked shaken.

"Did… Did something happen?"

Dawn didn't look like she wanted to speak. Lucas wasn't one to talk for her. "That's okay," I said, putting my bag down while still holding Hope. "You don't have to– hey!"

Hope had squirmed out of my arms and landed on the bed. She hopped to the pillow, bounced across the nightstand, and wound up on Dawn's lap. "Priii~" she chirped.

Dawn lifted her hand. My togepi cooed as Dawn petted her.

Dawn smiled, then sighed. "I got jumped by Team Galactic today."

My jaw dropped. "Are you okay? Your pokemon?"

"Kenna… Kenna's hurt but she'll be okay. Everyone else just got knocked out, but…" Her voice closed up.

"One of them passed away," Lucas told me, finally speaking.

I got cold. "Which one?"

"Eliza. Her spoink."

Relief washed over me. That was unfair of me. To be so relieved Owen was okay that the spoink didn't mean as much.

"I'm so sorry," I said.

Dawn gave a small, tired shrug. "It happens," she said wearily.

"What else happened?" I asked, more to Lucas than her.

"Not much. I was in that part of town, so I finished the battle for her. I think they just wanted to scare her. They didn't even take anything."

"Are _you_ okay?"

"I'm fine."

 _They didn't even take anything_. I'd thought it was the pokedex theft, which had happened last time. Looker's diary said that was two days away. Things had changed.

* * *

Maylene seemed a little off on Thursday. She didn't act differently towards me, but there was less light in her eyes, and something about her seemed heavier, slower.

She had me spar with her lucario. "He'll emulate some common moves people use, and I want you to come up with a way– Arceus _damn_ it, Raphael, I don't _care_ how many times they call, I'm _busy_."

"It's Volkner. Something city related. Very gym leadery."

Maylene scowled. "I can guess that from the fact that it's a _gym leader_. Don't patronize me." She passed him on the way out.

Raphael saw me looking at him and sighed. "I'm just the messenger. But I'd be concerned if I was her family, too."

Maylene's lucario essentially took over my training for the day. The spikes on his wrists and chest made things a _little_ difficult, but I didn't often come close to them. He showed without words how to block and counter different attack approaches.

Colby walked in. "Hey, Evelyn."

"Hey."

"Just so you know, you, uh, probably shouldn't expect to see Maylene again today."

"Is it the call from Volkner?"

"No, she… Well, she was online, and I guess her family noticed. She didn't have an excuse."

"Why does she avoid her family?"

Colby shrugged. "None of us really know. Not our business."

Lucario surprised me with a sneak attack; I reacted quickly. We'd done this one at least ten times.

At four-thirty I called it off and collected my pokemon. Lucario left before I could ask him a question.

"Colby," I said when the black belt strolled through, "Where's the restroom?"

He pointed behind him. "Go right, then left, second door on the right."

"Thanks."

"Mhm."

I was barefoot still, so my feet made maybe a little less noise than they should have. Because the first door on the left was open, and I could hear the conversation inside.

" _…why you're so adamant about it_ ," said a male voice through a speaker.

A groan from Maylene. "You don't _get_ it. I can't help who I am."

" _You choose how you live._ "

"Not in this case. You think I'd choose to alienate my family?"

" _That's what you're doing_."

"But if I could get away with it, I wouldn't be."

" _You can get away with it, though. Don't you see? You chose between alienating your family and dating a girl, and now you have neither._ "

"I'm still with Candice."

" _She's still in Snowpoint_."

"You're underestimating long distance. Look, I gotta go."

" _Maylene–_ " A sigh. " _We still love you. Come home. We'll help you get over this._ "

"Bye." Maylene hung up the call. Silence hung in the room and the hallway. Her head dropped into her hands, and she let out a low, frustrated scream. The quiet returned.

Then she said, "Evelyn, come in. Let's talk."

* * *

 **College is going well but is also busy. So, we'll see how this goes. The majority of this chapter was written in like three days, so it probably really just depends on creativity bursts. Fun stuff.**

 **PSA FOR ANYONE TAKING CHEM: Don't violate the octet rule for the first three periods, you'll feel like an idiot.**


	23. In the Rain

**WOAH TWO UPDATES IN A ROW?**

 **Yep, because immediately after publishing last chapter I went on a writing streak instead of doing my philosophy readings, and by 2 am I had enough for a chapter. It's shorter than the last few, but there wasn't going to be another decent stopping point for a while. So. You'll see.**

* * *

"Evelyn, come in. Let's talk."

Guiltily, I went in. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to eavesdrop."

"It's all right." Maylene gestured at a chair. "So," she said once I was seated. "How do you feel?"

Wasn't sure how to approach that. "I… uh…"

"How do you feel knowing what you know?"

Oh, that. "I'm fine with it," I said. "It does explain a lot."

"Like?"

"Like why you avoid calls from your family."

She sighed. I don't think I've ever seen an 18-year-old look so old. "They're… Snowpoint's fairly cut off from the rest of Sinnoh, and it can be pretty old-fashioned. My family is part of that. Arceus created a man and a woman and whatnot."

"It only mattered at the time cause they had to reproduce," I muttered.

The corner of her mouth twitched toward a smile. "True."

In the silence that followed, I realized Maylene hadn't invited me in just for my sake, whether she'd consciously admit it or not. "How… how are you feeling about all this?" I asked her.

She was staring at the wall. "I miss them. They're nice people, aside from them trying to change what can't be changed. And… I miss my best friend."

"Your family…" I wasn't sure if this was going too far, but I trusted her to decide her limits. "Are they… Are they mean to you?"

"Not directly, but it's like… I think they still love me, but it's like I've done something embarrassing and wrong and they can't get it out of their heads. Luckily I'd become a pretty decent trainer by then, and the Veilstone gym leader spot opened up around the same time. So I could get away from that."

"Mm."

She leaned back. "I'm still lucky though. I've heard stories of families reacting a lot worse than mine did."

Her expression sank. I decided to spin the topic to a lighter one. "Have you been talking to Candice?"

Maylene hesitated before shaking her head. "She kept saying I should move back, and… I don't want to face my family every day. I don't think I can. She could, probably. She's stronger than me." She laughed. "It's funny cause she's the studious one, and I've always been the athletic one. But she's stronger."

"You flat-out stopped talking to her?"

"I mean, I haven't communicated with her since August…"

Okay. Forget keeping the topic light. "I think you should get back in touch with her," I said seriously.

"She'll just bug me about coming home."

"No," I said, "If you tell her that, she'll stop. And she can help you figure out what to do about your family, because she knows you well. And… just… you can't just cut off your best friend."

Maylene had the kind of uncertainty I recognized – from personal experience – as based on principle rather than reason. "I guess…"

"For real though. Talk to her. She'll… she'll be there for you."

This from personal experience as well.

"All right," Maylene said, giving no more protest than I thought she would. "I'll call her tonight. Happy?"

"Yeah."

I took my bathroom break and returned to the Pokemon Center.

* * *

Glowing red eyes returned to my dreams that night, accompanied by the death of a spoink I barely knew and a shinx I knew too well. I woke up sweating. Seeing Liana die was worse than not finding her at all. It almost made me want to look for her again, just so she'd be safe.

And then I looked across the room and realized Lucas's bed was empty.

His kadabra was gone too, so he at least had a pokemon with him. That made me feel better. I still wanted to check that he was okay.

I woke Trust up and brought him with me. The light in the men's bathroom was off (I looked at the crack under the door) so, fortunately, I didn't need to look in there. I thought about where Lucas would be.

I went up to the roof.

He was sitting at the edge of the rooftop, beneath a wooden trellis covered in vines, looking over the city. As I approached, I scuffed my feet a little. He looked up.

"Couldn't sleep?"

He shook his head.

"Mind if I join you?"

Shook his head again.

I sat on the other end of the bench. Rain clouds had rolled in during the evening; it was starting to sprinkle.

We sat there looking down, watching the cobbled city grow slick and shiny. I snuck a look at him through the corner of my eye. He was huddled up in a sweatshirt; Lucas Tristan couldn't stand the cold. But he was up here anyways. The expression on his face was serene. I hoped this meant he hadn't been awoken by a nightmare.

"How've you been?" I said softly, breaking the silence.

Lucas shrugged. "All right."

"How's Dawn?"

"She didn't leave the room today."

"Were you with her?"

"No. She said she'd be fine."

"Ah."

The silence between us felt pretty okay. I can't say it wasn't at all awkward, but it wasn't terrible either. And just being in his company was nice.

"What did you do today?" I asked.

"Trained at Lake Valor. You?"

"Trained with Maylene." Same as we'd done the last few days, both of us. "Any idea when you'll fight Maylene?"

"Probably soon."

"Ah."

The mist was dying down a bit.

"Why are you getting fighting lessons, by the way?" he asked.

"Oh. Um… Well, I got mugged in Jubilife."

Lucas turned to look at me in surprise. I said, "I wasn't able to fight them off on my own because I just had a chimchar at the time… And just in general, there'll be situations where I can't get my pokemon's help."

His eyes held concern. "Were you okay?"

"In Jubilife? Yeah, I was all right. A trainer came by and – oh, you met him. Thomas helped me out. The guy who was in Eterna?"

"The tall one?"

"Yeah."

He nodded to himself. His concern touched me – it was verbal proof that he cared.

The air was cool and quiet, the soft whisper of rain almost gone. Veinstone was lit only by streetlamps this late at night. It was Sinnoh's gray city, but in the rain it turned pewter, a softer version of silver. I inhaled rain-soaked air and a little of what I recognized as Lucas's scent.

This moment, sitting next to him... Things felt perfect.

I was so grateful for my second chance.

"...I think I'll go back to sleep," I said after a while. "Don't stay up too late."

"I'll just drink coffee," Lucas said. I'm not sure if he was joking, but I laughed still.

"Good night," I said to the boy I loved.

"Good night," he said to me.

* * *

I went back to the gym one last time on Friday. Maylene worked with me, and then decided I was more or less okay out in the wilderness on my own.

"I mean, you're screwed if you're up against an aggron," she said, "but I can't really help you there."

"Thanks..."

"Don't worry. You'll have plenty of opportunities to practice."

I did ask her if she'd called Candice. She blushed a little and said she had.

* * *

Dawn was still in bed when I returned. It was two pm.

"Have you eaten?" I asked her.

I heard a muffled "mno" from the pillow.

On my way out, I ran into Lucas. "Hey, have you eaten lunch yet?" I asked him.

"No, why?"

"I'm going out to get Dawn food. She's in bed still."

" _Still?_ "

"Yeah… you want anything?"

"Sure. I'll come with you."

The closest ramen place (I was aiming for soup because comfort food) was a little north of the Pokemon Center. The streets were fairly deserted, because of some big event downtown and because the of the rain. Thunder rumbled distantly, though I hadn't seen a flash.

I carried Hope in my arms, because she was far too young not to experience the world. She squealed in delight whenever a raindrop hit her (I did check to make sure it wasn't a bad squeal). Promise was out, too, just because Hope was.

"So how's life?" I said, thoroughly enjoying the moment.

"Pretty good. How's yours?" His face was happy and open.

"It's nice. I like rain a lot." ( _lolz I also like you a lot_ , said my brain)

"How?" He was wearing a jacket and scarf and still looked cold.

"Dunno. I just do. Like this child here," I said, nodding at the togepi in my arms. A big drop hit her head and she shrieked in joy. Lucas smiled at her.

Promise hissed and suddenly he was gone. I turned around and saw him fighting a croagunk. A woman in gray threw out another pokemon – a glameow. Galactic. Three other grunts there too.

"Trust, Faith, it's yours," I yelled, letting them out. I glanced at Lucas. A shiver went down my spine when I saw the horrified look on his face.

"My pokemon are in the heal center," he whispered.

Trust fought with mach punch, jumping from pokemon to pokemon and trying to one-shot them. Faith snuck up on a few but fell quickly, to a zubat's wing attack. I stepped in front of Lucas to direct Trust.

"Mach punch the glameows first," I said. He'd already taken most of them out. "The rest… Just use flamethrower," I said, even though it was raining. Poison and flying, what else could we do?

Promise fought like he had against Gardenia's roserade, with close-range moves. Trust was trying to shoot down the zubats with fire. They dove in on him. Trust was out.

"To, ge, to?"

"Shh, it's okay. Trust, return." _Shit shit shit._ "Lucas, start running."

"I'll fight myself, if I have to."

"Against a crap ton of poison types?"

"You only just learned how."

"To, ge, to."

One croagunk smashed Promise into the ground. He staggered back up and snapped his tail at the offender.

"Look out!" said Lucas. I turned and he was fighting a grunt. A bigger, slower grunt. I backed away. The grunt took a wide swing. Lucas ducked and knocked his fist into the man's jaw. I wrenched my attention back to Prom and suddenly a croagunk was flying at Hope–

"BUI!" Promise snarled, tackling the croagunk. But now he was too close to us, and the other pokemon charged.

"To, ge, to, ge." She was in time. Rhythmic. Her hands glowed white.

Promise jumpkicked the croagunk away, and suddenly the three of us were in a bubble of energy. The other pokemon ran up and banged on the walls. Promise looked in wonder at Hope's Protect. Hope giggled.

"Prom, figure this move out if you can. I don't know how long it'll last."

Lucas ducked left, roundhouse kicked sideways. Another grunt closed in from behind. "Behind you!" I yelled. Lucas looked up. He dodged the grunt behind him. The first grunt swung at his head. Lucas fell. The female grunt tackled him with a cloth in her hand. She held it to his face. She was cheating. Lucas struggled and went limp.

"NO!" I screamed.

The Protect cracked under the blows. Promise did something and a new one flared to life. The biggest grunt tossed Lucas over his shoulder. They glanced at our Protect bubble, then ran. Their pokemon kept up the assault, trapping us in. Only when the grunts were far down the street did they withdraw their pokemon.

Prom let down the Protect, breathing heavily from the effort. The grunts ran from view. Hope and Promise and I were left sitting in the rain.


	24. Rescue

I had seen Galactic hurt Lucas before.

They had attacked him with their pokemon and their own hands.

They had turned Azelf into a lethal weapon to lift Lucas into the air–

And I still couldn't think about what happened without triggering a painful flashback, and at the time I lost hope. I panicked and sank into despair.

I was panicking a bit now.

But I had seen shit happen to Lucas, and this time, I was also fucking mad.

* * *

 _Found LT HQ. Can set diversion at warehouses._

 _I've got diversion covered. Meet me woods east of HQ._

* * *

"What's your diversion?" Looker asked with a frown as I approached. "And where's Dawn?"

"Maylene's doing an 'inspection' of the warehouses," I said. "And Dawn is being a limp noodle while recovering from loss."

"You brought a gym leader into this?"

"She's just doing an inspection. Nothing wrong with that."

"But the _coincidence_ of Lucas disappearing at the same time as…"

"I've got that worked out. Don't worry."

Looker was incredulous. "I know you don't like my diversions, but–"

"Can we cut the crap? I know you have a disguise for me, and I'm not in the mood to waste time."

He hesitated, but he pointed into the forest. I walked in and found the clothes behind a tree.

"What's your plan?" Looker asked after I emerged, fully dressed in a Galactic grunt uniform.

I told him, and exchanged Hope for a natu.

"I really hope I'm right in trusting you on this," Looker said tiredly.

"Yeah, well. The last time you said you trusted me, we wound up in September instead of February, so."

" _Lyn_."

"There's always gonna be a risk. Optimism. Let's hope for the best."

* * *

 _Looker and I came here a week after the Lake Valor incident. Galactic had vacated the building, which was good because I was in no state to fight them._

 _"It looks like this one would be their primary HQ," he said as we walked through. "The Eterna building didn't have living facilities like this one. Which means – oh."_

 _We had entered a large room, headed by a raised_ _podium. It looked designed for speeches and accommodating as many grunts as possible._

 _I saw Cyrus standing at the top of the room, proclaiming, "Once the Lake Trio is under our control, there is nothing we cannot do! We are one step from creating our new world!"_

 _And the hall full of grunts cheered, thinking of their schemes for a grand new world coming to fruition, not of a member of the Lake Trio killing a sixteen-year-old boy, crushing his insides and letting his blood drip onto the cave floor–_

 _"Lyn?"_

 _The room cleared. No one was there but him and me. I'd fallen into a hunched-up ball. Looker knelt beside me._

 _"Come on," he said, gently but also trying to get us going. "There's something on the other side." He helped me back up._

 _It was a warp tile, beyond which lay a few other rooms, and then a long walkway bordered on either side by cylindrical glass tanks. Holding cells of sorts. Past there was the room where we found out the Lake Trio had been held before Galactic evacuated, but I didn't bother remembering past this point because_ I knew where Lucas was.

* * *

I teleported in. Looker had sort of stuck the natu through a skylight ahead of time to imprint the location. It worked better than I could've hoped, because I was already on the third floor.

There was a bit of warping back and forth involved (those things are a pain in the ass), but eventually I got to the fourth floor. No grunts crossed paths with me; they must have been at the warehouses.

On the fourth floor was a closed door with a keycard lock. I flipped to the notepad app on my poketch, where I kept the passcodes I'd obtained last time around. I punched one into the keypad below and went through.

The hall was empty again. Or so I thought at first. Then I heard the voices at the top of the chamber, on the dais.

"…can't cause trouble. Just for a few days, to scare them." Saturn, I think? I thought the admins (especially the admins) would've been at the warehouses. That was the point of the diversion.

"He doesn't seem that scared to me." This one was definitely Jupiter. "He was surprised for sure when he woke up, but he's been pretty calm since."

"Jupiter, no."

"What?" she said innocently.

"You can't just torture every prisoner we take."

"I haven't gotten to torture _anyone_."

"You already killed his friend's pokemon."

"Not the same." Jupiter sighed.  
 _  
Go die in a hole_ , I thought, creeping through the chamber underneath the dais.

"He hasn't done enough to warrant such a response." The irony of the admin responsible for Lucas's death now defending him was not lost on me.

"Those joltiks ate all the energy we stole from the Windworks!"

"Jupiter, we're an _electric company._ We only need to stage a few power outages to power the bomb ourselves."

"Then why the hell–"

"It would've been nice to have half as many blackouts. Less suspicious."

I made it to the warp tile at this point.

"Shh. Is someone in here?"

I warped quickly.

So sabotaging their Windworks collection hadn't done much… Unfortunate. At least I knew Lucas was okay now.

Moving faster, I reached the hall I remembered within minutes. The glass cylinders were dimly lit in crystal green light. All were empty.

I frowned. That wasn't right. He definitely should have been here. Unless…

I took off down the corridor. They didn't put him in the Lake Trio room, did they?

They did.

The Lake Trio room is the one set aside for when Galactic eventually (theoretically) captures the Trio. The contraptions for imprisoning them are detachable from the room (I'd seen one at Lake Valor) and designed to pin them down physically and with energy.

Lucas was in the corner. His hands and feet were tied and strung to the machine behind him. Duct tape covered his mouth. Someone had removed his jacket and scarf and dumped them on the ground beside him. He was awake and looked unhurt, except for a bruise on his eyebrow where the grunt had hit him.

He seemed so small.

"Hey," I said softly. He nodded a greeting.

I prioritized his hands, because I was too embarrassed to touch his face. The instant his hands were free, he shifted to work the knots at his ankles, and then the tape. Bracelets of violet skin circled his wrists. My heart ached with empathy, relief, and still-throbbing anger, which was subsiding now.

"Okay," I said with a sigh of relief. "We need to get to the landing pad."

The idea was to stage a transport, so that Maylene's inspection would look unrelated. A grunt moving Lucas from Veilstone to wherever, and on the way there something would destroy the helicopter. After we'd teleported out, of course. It _would_ have looked more realistic if we'd had another grunt (say, a limp noodle) around.

I draped Lucas's jacket over his shoulders so that his hands were hidden somewhere behind his back. I held one arm – loosely, but with a tense hand to make it look tight – and we set a brisk pace out of there.

It took a great deal of self-control not to simply burst into a smile. I'd done it. I'd literally rescued Lucas from the bad guys. I hadn't been this relieved since the day I found out Lucas was alive again.

I checked his face to see how he was doing. His expression had remained consistently stony and emotionless.

"So… You're okay, then?"

"Yeah."

Emotionless, but in a dark way. I had no idea why.

"You don't… _seem_ it," I said. He didn't answer.

We made it through the hall and the next room before almost literally running into Saturn and Jupiter. For crying out loud.

"Whoa!" Jupiter did a double take. "Where are you going with the prisoner?"

My stomach twisted when she called him that. _First of all, he has a name. Second of all, you'll be seeing a lot of us, so you better get to know his name._

Out loud, I said, "Transporting him to Eterna, sir! Commander Cyrus's orders."

Jupiter walked up with slow steps, her boots clicking on the tiled floor. She gazed into Lucas's face – which remained emotionless – and when she didn't get a response, she reached up to backhand him. I clenched my teeth and told myself to let it happen.

I didn't have to worry. She didn't smack him.

She smacked _me_.

Unprepared, I recoiled hard. In a second my wig fell too far askew to work as a disguise.

"Nice try. Evelyn. I remember your face." Jupiter picked a pokeball and threw it; her skuntank.

"Funny," I said, "I'd expected you to block out your memories of getting trashed in battle that badly."

I nudged a pokeball into Lucas's hands, beneath his coat.

"If I remember correctly, the last time we saw each other, you had to flee the scene," Jupiter retorted.

"Had to, chose to–" I pushed three fingertips into Lucas's back. "–they're different things." I pulled a finger away, leaving two. "What matters is we're here now, and this time–" One finger remaining. "–we don't have to argue about who goes first." Zero.

"Wha–"

Lucas's kadabra and the IP's natu materialized.

"Skuntank, night slash!"

She targeted the natu first, then Lucas's kadabra; the latter and his trainer made it out faster. The natu squeaked and fell, gashes across his face.

"Again! Target her!"

Promise rocketed out of his pokeball so fast, he had barely materialized when he reached Skuntank. Neither of them were ready for the collision, but after they crashed headlong into each other, Skuntank raked his claws up Promise's back.

" _Bui!_ "

"Faith, assist him! Confuse ray! Prom, watergun!"

"Toxicroak, poison jab!" Saturn said, adding his pokemon to the fray.

Faith immersed herself in shadows, Prom shot himself out of Skuntank's range, Toxicroak jabbed at where Faith was and missed. A flashing light came out of the ground and smacked Skuntank.

"Ugh. Skuntank, toxic!"  
 _  
Wait, poison! Shit!  
_  
"Prom, dodge!"

He evaded the sludge but not Toxicroak's pursuit. Skuntank staggered around confused and shot more poison in a random direction. Saturn dodged it. Faith popped up to use nightshade and disappeared again.

Then Lucas returned.

"Dude! Get out of here!" What the actual _fuck?_

"Here," he said, shoving a pokeball into my hands. "Backup teleporter."

"Okay, great, thanks. Go. Prom, return." I withdrew my battered buizel from the fray. "Faith, return." Her pokeball didn't respond. She was still in the shadows.

"Shoot. Kadabra, shadow ball!"

Lucas's pokemon drew the attention away from us. "What are you doing?! Get out of here!"

"Get your pokemon first!"

"I'm working on it! Lucas!"

I shoved him out of the way of a stream of poison sludge. "Faith! I need you!"

She popped up out of the ground, _finally_. I got the pokemon – natu – out of the pokeball. "Return! Lucas, let's go!"

"Not so fast! Poison jab–"

"Psybeam!"

" _Lucas!_ "

His kadabra teleported to him, and we both teleported out of there.

The instant we rematerialized, I was shouting. "What were you doing?! Jumping in the battle when we were trying to leave?!"

"You were unprotected–"

"So you figured you'd just swoop in? The whole _point_ of that was to get you out of there–"

"You're making a big deal of this–"

" _This is a big deal!_ "

"Guys, whoa, calm down!" Looker had found us, and now stood between us, holding Hope. "What happened?"

"Lucas thought the battle looked fun, so he joined in–"

"I keep saying you weren't protected–"

" _The whole reason I was there was to rescue you–_ "

"I didn't need _rescuing_. They were going to release me."

"Great, so you trust frigging _Team Galactic–_ "

 **EARSPLITTING PRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIII!**

" _Aaaaaarghhhhh!_ "

Never make a togepi cry. _Ever_.

"She has a point," Looker said once Hope stopped destroying our eardrums, "I wouldn't take Galactic's word for anything."

" _Thank_ you," I said exhaustedly, rubbing my ears. Lucas shut up.

"All right. Well. You guys both made it out. If I was you, I'd stay together for the rest of your time in Veilstone. The three of you."

I traded my Galactic uniform and natu for Hope. Lucas was already walking off.

"We _literally_ just went over this," I called after him.

"I'm right _here_ ," he said. "I'm _fine_."

Somehow we managed to get from the southern woods – our teleportation destination – back to the Pokemon Center and drop off our pokemon at the front desk without fighting again. Lucas was sullen and didn't even look at me. I was fine with that. I was mad. How hard could he _possibly_ have made it to save him? I just wanted to save the flipping boy I loved from his flipping killers. "Making a big deal of this"– yeah, making a big deal of _highly possible death.  
_  
"Hey guys," Dawn greeted us as we walked in. She looked like she had just gotten dressed. "How was…"

She saw our faces. Lucas threw his jacket and scarf roughly onto his bed and walked back out again. I kicked off my shoes and climbed into my bunk, throwing the blanket over me. Fuck this day.

"…oh. Okay," Dawn said nervously.

* * *

 **Three for three weeks in a row woot woot**

 **If you caught the reference to the major Pokemon game plot hole, dw, I'll address it next time. See you later~**


	25. Nonverbal

So, here's where we were in the morning.

Lucas was avoiding all eye contact with me and not saying a word. The dark expression I'd seen on his face yesterday was there still. He stayed near us, thankfully, so I didn't have to worry about where he was. Violet bruises still circled his wrists from the day before. They hurt to look at.

Dawn's confused expression went away overnight. I'm guessing Lucas told her while I was asleep. I couldn't tell if she was siding with me or Lucas, but Lucas wasn't talking to her either, so I wanted to think it was me. Also, I just wanted to think it was me.

As for me…

I think when I woke up, it finally hit me that Lucas had been kidnapped. I was on edge constantly, trying to keep checking on Lucas even though I knew he was right there, my hands shaking, heart beating a little more loudly than usual. And still I was mad that he'd put himself in danger so recklessly, like _literally_ we were just trying to get _out_ of there jumping into the fight was so _unnecessary…  
_  
We communicated by bodily gestures. Lucas stood by the door with his shoes on; we went down to eat brunch. Dawn put her scarf on a chair to signal which table we'd be at. Afterwards, I pushed my chair out slowly and stood up even more slowly, and they got the message and we made it outdoors to train.

It was relatively effective, considering we weren't talking.

Also, it _sucked._ We weren't even _talking.  
_  
Faith kept mumbling about spruce and rosewood. Hope wouldn't stop chirping. Promise tried for ages to get Hope to calm down and was now getting impatient. Trust kept looking at me with the same expression of worry I used to look at Lucas.

By now, mid-afternoon, I'd figured it out. I'd been thinking about yesterday constantly, and I finally had yesterday's events sorted out. If Lucas hadn't come back with Looker's natu, I don't know how I'd have made it out of there. Him staying behind to protect me when Faith wouldn't resurface was a little bit extra (though nice too), and him continuing to fight was _very_ extra, but I hadn't even acknowledged the part where he came back for me.

It started eating at me like everything else. I was working with Faith on sucker punch, and suddenly a wave of _fuuuuuuuuuuck_ just sort of washed over me… I'm sorry-not-sorry. That's the best way to describe it. Like suddenly everything in me screamed in frustration.

"Okay. Everyone, gather round. Team huddle."

I sat down cross-legged in front of Promise and Hope. Faith and Trust came over a little warily (it's not like I'd ever called a team huddle before.).

"Okay," I said. I was still shaking like I'd been all day; my teeth were chattering. "So, here's th-the plan. We're gonna see if they're up for battling Maylene, because the three of us aren't in any s-state to stay together much longer. I need to know if you guys are ready to fight her, though."

Trust and Promise nodded immediately, Promise with an affirmative "Bui." Hope wasn't battling, but she chirped anyways. Faith looked unsure.

"How about this: Promise and Trust fight first. They'll do their best to keep the battle to just them. If we absolutely need to, can you step in, Faith?"

Faith looked at them.

"You can do it," I encouraged her. "Have some… have some faith in yourself," I said, with a little chuckle.

Somewhat reluctantly, Faith nodded. "Faith."

"Thanks, Faith."

I pushed myself to my feet and withdrew Trust, Promise, and Faith. Hope hopped into my arms.

I breathed. I steeled myself and strode directly towards Lucas.

"Hey."

He turned his head half towards me. He did not look me in the eye. I could not remember the last time he hadn't looked me in the eye.

I forgot what to say.

"Um, sorry for… for blowing up. You… You had the right idea, and I wouldn't have gotten out of there if you didn't come back, and I was just so worried about everything still that I… I was still worried about you… and… yeah."

He nodded in acknowledgement. I couldn't read his expression.

"Also… I was thinking we should battle the gym. So we don't have to follow each other around this town anymore."

Lucas stood still for a moment. "Yeah," he said, recalling his pokemon. My heart relaxed and sank simultaneously; he'd responded positively, and it was only so that we wouldn't have to stay in each other's company.

We told Dawn, who was down, and headed to the gym.

* * *

I opted to go third and requested the use of Maylene's computer.

"Hey," I said when Megan picked up.

"Hey. What's up?"

"Storytime."

It required a little backstory, just so I could explain why I was going out to get Dawn ramen, and it stretched all the way up til the present. She frowned. "Is he still mad at you?"

"I'm not sure…? I thought apologizing would change things, but he still hasn't talked to me much since."

"Hmm. Maybe he's just being stubborn. It might wear off."

"I hope so."

"Are you battling Maylene soon?" Megan asked after a lull in the conversation.

"Yeah. It'll be right after Dawn and Lucas finish."

"Good luck."

"Thanks."

"You won't need it, though." A little smile lay on her face.

I laughed. "Thanks."

* * *

Lucas won his battle. Dawn had more trouble, as she hadn't trained in a few days, but she won hers as well.

Rafael was refereeing (Rafaelreeing?). "This will be a three-on-three battle between the gym leader, Maylene, and the challenger, Evelyn Meyers from Twinleaf Town. Only the challenger may make substitutions. Battlers, are you ready?"

"Yep!" Maylene was surprisingly pumped for someone who'd just been beaten twice.

"Ready."

"Battle… begin!"

"Meditite!"

"Promise. Sonic boom."

"Detect!"

"Keep attacking until the detect misses." Because I knew this battle style. It's annoying as fuck and it's such a basic "Ooh look I can strategize!" move that gym leaders occasionally pull it on trainers just to make sure the trainers can beat basic people. Rant rant rant.

Detect eventually failed, and Meditite was hit. "Stay back and use watergun," I said.

"Meditite, confusion!"

The water came screeching to a halt in front of her – I'd seen this before recently. I couldn't remember what I'd done then.

"Keep using watergun," I decided. Promise went for it, and the meditite caught the water. The bubble kept growing. I figured she'd lose control of it, or… oh.

"Sonic boom on the meditite!"

"Detect, last second!"

The instant before it hit, Meditite tossed her massive psychic water balloon upward and got the move to miss. The water hit the ceiling and came falling back down.

"Aqua jet through it!"

Promise took a running leap and entered the water bubble. Without having to worry about placing the energy source – the part he always had trouble with – he rocketed through most of the water before it hit the ground, and flew at Meditite upon his exit.

"Dete–"

They weren't ready enough. Prom barreled into Meditite with enough force to smash them both into the wall. "Punch her if she's not unconscious," I called out. But I didn't have to worry. It was a hell of an impact.

"Meditite is unable to battle. The match goes to the challenger."

"Interesting, interesting," Maylene said, recalling the pokemon half-embedded in the wall.

I gave Prom a thumbs up. "Next battle should be more your style, okay?"

"Bui." He got me.

"Machoke! Focus energy."

"Get in there. Tackle."

Promise essentially headbutted him and rebounded. The machoke seemed unfazed.

"Brick break!"

"Water punch!"

Prom jumped to punch and got slammed down instead. "Go from behind," I told him. He darted around back and tried again, but Machoke swung his elbow back and knocked Prom away.

"Rock tomb!"

"Jump!"

Prom leapt up, narrowly avoiding getting snagged in the rocky jaws beneath him. "Get in there," I said. "All the way in."

Promise darted forth, dodging a swinging fist, and climbed up the machoke's body. Machoke tried to grab him, but Prom made it to his back and started pummeling his head. Snarling, the machoke caught hold of Prom and pulled him to the front of him. Prom bit his hand – was that _crunch?_ – and the machoke howled and slammed him into the ground.

"Watergun!"

Prom twisted his head and shot at nearly-point blank range. The machoke struggled to keep holding on to Promise while withstanding the torrent.

"Step back!" Maylene commanded. "Rock tomb!"

Machoke leaped back, and almost immediately Promise sank into the ground. Crap.

"Watergun at the ground."

He shot water at the rocks enclosing him. It loosened the ground enough for him to climb out.

"Great! Get close!"

"Brick break!"

Prom launched himself at the machoke, sidestepped the blow, and barreled into him. He clawed his way up to the machoke's face, and finished him off with a water punch to the jaw.

"Machoke is unable to battle! The match goes to the challenger!"

"Return." Maylene switched pokeballs. "How're you feeling so far?"

I considered it. "That was… Better than I thought it might be, frankly. Didn't quite go as planned, but that's all right."

She was nodding. "I like the attitude. Ready for round three?"

"Yeah. Prom, return. Trust, it's yours!"

"Lucario! Start out with bone rush!"

"Use mach punch!"

Trust lunged and hit first, but didn't move out of the way quickly enough to avoid getting hit in the back.

"Flamethrower!"

"Force palm!"

Lucario jumped over the flames and immediately sent a blast from him palm upon landing. Trust tumbled over.

"Fight with force palm! Go!"

"Go" meant spring into a fighting stance, palms loaded with energy. "Fight with mach punch, then," I said to Trust.

He got into position, and they went at it. Lucario moved faster, which I guess was from practice, but Trust's slower pace almost seemed intentional. Regardless, Lucario was quickly gaining the upper hand, nailing and evading more of his opponent's hits.

"Trust, step back!" I finally said. "Flamethrower!"

He did, but too little, too late. Lucario took the hit and sprang forward, fist raised. Trust jumped, but that only meant Lucario's drain punch hit him in the stomach, rather than face.

"Monferno is unable to battle! The match goes to the gym leader!" Rafael announced.

"Return," I said.

Okay. Well. I guess Maylene baited me into her Lucario's fighting style. That was fair. But what to do now? Faith? Or Promise, who'd fought two already?

If we were talking fighting styles, though, Promise was the best match for Lucario. Maybe more so than Trust. Prom and his quick clipped supersonic boom fighting style.

I raised Prom's pokeball to my mouth. "I hope you were watching," I whispered. "Cause it's your turn. Prom, go!"

He landed ready to go, poised on all fours. Lucario got into his stance.

Maylene yelled, "With force palm, go!"

I yelled, "Close combat, you know what to do!"

My buizel shot forward, evaded a hit, sonic-boomed Lucario in the back of the legs, jumped over another hit, kicked him in the chest. He backflipped around Lucario's force palm and landed on his feet.  
 _  
This_ , I thought, watching Promise fight, _this is his element. Trust isn't my fighting type. Promise is._

Prom danced around Lucario, nailing him with hits. Lucario was flagging, eventually trying harder to dodge than hit Promise back. Promise leaped up to Lucario's head level and snapped a final sonic boom in his face. Lucario fell.

"Lucario is unable to battle. The challenger wins!"

"Prom, great job!" I said, kneeling down as he ran over. I patted him on the head. "How did I get so lucky?" I murmured. "That was all you."

He'd have blushed, if buizels could blush. I straightened and walked with him to receive the badge.

"Nicely done," Maylene said, hand raised. We high-fived. "I didn't expect your buizel to fight like that, frankly. Even Lucario couldn't– Oh, the rain helped."

"What?"

She pointed above my head. I looked up and a water drop hit me in the face. The ceiling was dripping from when Meditite threw water up too high.

"Swift swim?" I said aloud.

"Possibly," Maylene agreed. "Not to discount your buizel's ability. You've trained him well."

"I can't take credit," I said. "I think he already fought like this."

"There's a level of trust involved in any battle relationship. You get some credit for knowing what to do."

I grinned at Promise. "I'll take it."

"Anyways! Best of skill in your journey." Maylene held her hand out for a handshake.

"Thank you." I took her hand.

"And thank you for the support," she said, quieter.

"Of course. Hope things go well."

"Thanks. I think they might. I hope they will."

* * *

 **Heh it's been a while. Finals are over... I'm gonna try and get another chapter out next week for the 1-year, but I also have a story due for a lit mag on the 29th, so we'll see.  
**

 **Merry Christmas,** **happy holidays, and see you soon.**


	26. Faith

**Ayeeee happy first anniversary of Chance... Or, okay, the first update since the first anniversary of Chance.**

 **Just fyi, my winter quarter is packed-to-the-point-of-questioning-my-sanity, so update frequency is TBD. That being said, I made some progress on plotline planning last night (irony bc I haven't even planned on seeing my faculty advisor yet oops) and I'm so excited for the next chapters!**

 **HYPEHYPEHYPEHYPEHYPE** **HYPEHYPEHYPEHYPEHYPE** **HYPEHYPEHYPEHYPEHYPE** **HYPEHYPEHYPEHYPEHYPE** **HYPEHYPEHYPEHYPEHYPEHYPEHYPE**

 **Anyways. As I was saying, idk how often updates will be, but it's nice having a non-stressful project.**

 **Aight, enough chitchat. Enjoy the chapter~**

* * *

Quick question.

What the _actual_ hecksicle is the appeal of black coffee?

I ordered one at a diner on the west side of town while waiting. Dawn, Lucas and I had decided to leave an hour apart, just so we'd be sure to separate.

Lucas seemed to enjoy his coffee black, so I wanted to try it. It didn't taste _remotely_ as nice as it smelled. I wound up adding a shitload of creamer and sugar to the drink, and then it was almost bearable.

Black coffee? More like bitterness and pain. I didn't know how he could stand it.

Trust and Promise were eating poffins, giving Hope the sweet ones. Faith was out too until it became clear she couldn't function without spooking other customers.

I checked the clock on the wall. It was 6 now. Dawn had left at 4:30, for Celestic; Lucas left at 5:30 for Pastoria, without saying goodbye. I'd opted for third again because I was waiting for–

"Lyn."

"Looker."

He slid into the seat across from me. "What's so funny?" he asked, noticing me snicker.

"Your clothes are great."

Looker was wearing plainclothes, which I guess meant a floral shirt, green jeans, boots, a backwards baseball cap, and sunshades. The pink ballcap was the best part.

"Didn't want to be seen with you," he said, shrugging.

"Thanks."

"Not like that. I'm trying not to get recognized by… you know."

Galactic. "Right. We'll all be out of here soon, fortunately."

He nodded. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah." I slid the rest of the coffee over to him. He took a sip. "While I was in–"

"Eughhh." Looker made a face and put the coffee down. "What's _this?_ "

"Coffee?"

"Did you _drown_ it in… Whatever, go on."

"…while I was in the HQ, I overheard Saturn and Jupiter talking. They found the joltiks in Eterna, and they say they can just steal energy by staging blackouts anyways."

"Mm. I was hoping the joltiks would last longer."

"It's almost been a month."

"Oh, I suppose that's pretty good."

"Other than that, they said the kidnapping was really just to scare us away."

Looker nodded. "How did Lucas and Dawn take it?"

"Uh… Dawn reacted harder to them killing her pokemon, but she didn't know Lucas had been kidnapped until we both returned."

"How's she doing with the former?"

"She's recovering. She was in a bad state yesterday, but today she was able to train a little and fight the gym."

"And Lucas?"

My heart sank a bit. Lucas and his stubbornness, the angry silence he suddenly had towards me. Lucas and the sharp bruises around his wrists.

"He's not afraid of them," I said.

"That's good." Looker picked up the coffee mug briefly, debated internally, and put it back down. "As for the joltiks… it was more of a deterrent strategy than a move to actually stop them. Our next move needs to be in the other main direction."

"Which is?"

"Stopping the formation of the Red Chain."

"Oh, like the legendaries."

"Yeah. That being said, while the legendary artifacts-slash-pokemon are catalysts to the Red Chain, they aren't necessary to create it, from what we know. So the Red Chain could still be made."

"Any plans for that?"

Looker hesitated. "No." I couldn't see his eyes through the sunglasses, but he sounded almost ashamed.

I took charge. "Do we know what materials are needed for the Red Chain?" I asked.

"We don't. The Lake Trio works, obviously, but that's not Galactic's starting point. I need to look into that before we make a move."

"What else is needed?"

"To make the Red Chain, Galactic pretty much needs the materials, the method, and a place to do it – and legendary pokemon, if they can manage it."

"Any leads on where they're doing it?"

Looker sort of shrugged. "Could be Eterna, could be Veilstone… I really don't know."

"Okay. Well, everything's a work in progress."

"Unfortunately. For now, legendaries. Heatran. Be ready for that. It's in a few weeks, but of course, things could go differently."

"We'll be ready."

* * *

Six thirty hit. I gathered myself, my pokemon, and my belongings, and off we went.

Lucas was on my mind. He wasn't any less mad at me by the time he left. I didn't know what else could've been bothering him – was it something I said or did, or something I didn't know I did, or something I was and couldn't help being, or did and couldn't help doing, or…?

We didn't get far the first night. It was like… Once the sun disappeared, my steps slowed and eventually stopped altogether. Normally I'd have kept going for at least an hour or two. Trust and Promise looked back at me in perplexion.

That's not a word. Whatever.

"Let's…" I put a hand on my forehead. Warm. I didn't feel sick. "Let's stop here tonight."

We continued like that the next day – late start, slow pace, early stop at night. It's like I was just going through the motions, tired of everything. I don't know what was wrong with me. I entertained the idea that it was Lucas's fault, but it felt too disproportionate for that.

The next day was overcast, with the cool smell of rain hanging in the air. The freshness in my lungs transformed me from a slugma into… Well, a torkoal, but a fast torkoal.

There was the occasional obligatory trainer battle. This route is known for the double battlers who wait for challengers. Those happened. I won. They felt gray.

We hit the south part of Route 210 the next day. By evening we reached Solaceon. We took the rest of the night off. I doodled in Looker's journal while they ran around.

Hope didn't want to. Or something. She stayed with me. "You should go play," I kept saying.

"Prri," she'd say, snuggling up closer. I would pat her on the head and keep drawing.

The next morning, I decided to show Prom some new moves. I had to look it up, but buizels can learn things like brick break, iron tail, and ice punch. Floatzels can do ice fang, and since Prom had already learned crunch, I figured he could get that one, too.

I taught Prom how to find ice energy in the air (I sort of knew from Jirra, my sneasel, but I also looked it up) and worked with Trust on brick break. I figured if he was leaning towards a slower fighting style, he should build up the strength of his moves to make his hits count. Plus, he could show Prom later.

And then there was Faith.

Faith is sweet and bubbly and a joy to be around, but when you want to get stuff done and/or are feeling abnormally dead inside, she's very difficult. Additionally, today she kept wandering off while I was talking to her.

"Faith," I sighed. "I'm over here."

Faith looked at me and sank underground. Her shadow zipped into the forest. Before I could make up my mind to go after her, she returned and plopped a pile of leaves on my head. I reached up to pull it off – they were short vines and sticks in a messy tangle, as though she'd tried to weave a flower crown of leaves. Faith was grinning at me. I shook my head, smiling. It was hard to actually get mad at her.

Mid afternoon, after school was out, I called Megan. When she picked up, Tricia was onscreen with her. It was a classic case of let's-talk-to-Tricia-and-continue-to-keep-her-in-the-dark. For example, I mentioned that Lucas was mad at me, and she asked why.

 _Because he got kidnapped – which you didn't know – by Galactic, because we've been fighting them – which you didn't know – because otherwise they'll kill Lucas and destroy the world – which you didn't know – and I know this because I time-traveled back from an alternate reality in which they pretty much did just that. Which you didn't know._

"I… don't even know," I said, feigning exasperation.

"Oh. Well, don't worry, he'll probably get over it."

Classic. I wondered how long I could get away with telling her nothing at all.

Ugh. She's one of my best friends, I know, and I couldn't tell her because it was like telling a twelve-year-old about sex ed. Like even if they want to know, and you kind of knew at their age, you can't stand being the one to spoil their innocence, you know what I mean?

The next day was more of the same: training, Prom and Trust getting the hang of some moves, Faith continually wandering off. I still wasn't feeling it. Was it PMS? Wrong time of month. Plus, this didn't usually happen to me.

"Faith, come back," I said for the millionth time. It was getting dark by now, and although she was a ghost type who reveled in darkness, I myself was not.

This time, though, she didn't turn return to me. " _Faith_ ," I groaned, pulling out her pokeball. She rounded the corner past some trees before I could withdraw her.

I sighed. "Trust, Prom," I said, picking up Hope. "We gotta chase Faith down."

We walked through town – south, I think, since we first came to town from the north. Faith was difficult to see but vaguely visible. She made a turn past the Lost Tower, and it dawned on me that she knew where she was going.

Then she picked up speed. A _lot_ of speed.

We ran, me trying not to bounce Hope too much. At least she was giggling. I hope she was giggling (hahahahaha punny).

Faith flew into the cemetery for humans, which was a little ways beyond the Lost Tower. We chased her past the gravestones. She flew through a hill – darn ghost types having it easy – and when the rest of us reached the top, we stopped. Partly because we couldn't see Faith. Partly because _holy heck_ _what is that_.

They were like fog. Like clouds that had lost their way. The larger one had a man's form. I couldn't see his expression, but rather _felt_ his emotions emanating from him – sadness, the kind that comes from grief, and happiness, the kind that comes from relief. The smaller one was in his arms.

The man faded away too soon – it felt too soon – and the little one turned around. A little girl with wild, bouncy curls. She toddled up the hill towards us, and started to turn darker. Purple. And there was Faith.

"Dada," she said.

* * *

The tombstone said Leif Warner. I searched him up as soon as we got back to the Pokemon Center. He was a naturalist who'd lived in Eterna Forest. He died a bit over a year ago, in a forest fire. He was buried in Solaceon, where his wife lay. They never found his two-year-old daughter, Faith Warner.

Faith plopped herself down on my lap. "Spruce," she said.

It wasn't fair. They should have ended up together – Faith and her dad. But there he was, already in the afterlife, and here she was, lingering behind as a ghost.

"Were you looking for your dad?" I murmured. "Is that why you stayed back?"

"Dada," Faith confirmed.

That night I watched her. She was a lovely little girl, a prankster, a giggly, playful child. But she belonged somewhere else.

The next morning, I walked towards south Solaceon again.

I'd briefly considered going to Fantina, but she didn't know ghosts in general as well as she knew ghost type pokemon. If anyone knew ghosts, it was the women at the top of the Lost Tower. Besides, Solaceon was closer to where Faith's father and mother lay.

"You seem troubled," said the one on the left, when I arrived at the top of the tower.

"A bit," I admitted. "Is it possible for a ghost pokemon to… move on?"

Unsurprisingly – I'd talked to them before – she knew what I meant. "You want to send your haunter away?"

My chest clenched. "I don't _want_ to, necessarily… but–"

"Ah, I see," said the one on the right. "You think she will be happier with her father."

"She belongs with him," I said quietly. "Faith… She's this ball of energy, this little trickster, and I don't _want_ her to go… but she stayed behind to find her dad and she ought to be with him now."

The left lady said, "Have you tried talking to her?"

"Faith? Uh… I mean, she's difficult to talk to seriously…"

"It might help you with this." The lady on the left looked to her right. "That being said, if she has not moved on yet…"

"…that's already a sign," the right lady finished.

"What?"

"Ghosts are not like us," said the left lady. "They are dead but alive. They have been reborn with a new life, but eventually…"

"…they choose to move on," said the right lady. "And then they do. It's easy for them, because they are dead. But often they choose not to – for a year, for a century – because they enjoy their new life."

"Living but dead," said the left. "A difficult place to be, but there are worse things than limbo."

* * *

I pulled her out when we were outside the tower. "So I'm guessing you heard that," I said.

"Lichen," Faith said agreeably.

"Yeah. So I was wondering… what do you want to do? You could stay with me–"

"Spruce," Faith interrupted.

"–or you could move on with your dad."

"Dada," she said.

"Yeah. So… Do you want to think about it, or I can bring you to the graveyard so you can talk with your dad too–"

Faith reached out with a disembodied little hand. I tentatively took it. "Spruce," she said.

I think that was when I realized two things. One, her small vocabulary did not represent her comprehension. Two, the plants weren't random.

We visited the graveyard anyways, because I wasn't sure when we'd be back in Solaceon. I sat down at the top of the hill as Faith approached her father's grave.

A cloud arose from the ground by the tombstone. Faith became lighter, looking like a little ghost girl. In this form, I could not hear what they said. The two of them conversed for a bit, and then hugged, and came up the hill together.

Leif Warner couldn't have been more than thirty. Details settled in, until I could tell he was a dark-haired man with wide glasses.

He said something to me. I can't read lips to save my life, and I don't know what his words were, but I know what he said.

I nodded and he faded away. "All right. Ready to leave Solaceon?" I said to Faith.

She giggled and zoomed ahead, waiting for me to catch up before racing south toward Hearthome.


	27. Hearthome

We hit Hearthome mid-Tuesday. For no obvious reason, it went significantly better than the journey to Solaceon. Promise got ice punch and ice fang down well enough to use in battle, and Trust got brick break down well enough to teach Prom.

Hearthome's Pokemon Center is sort of towards the back of the city, so we spent the rest of the day getting there. My team and I stopped by the Poffin House after lunch and attempted to cook poffins (only 3 survived, so I bought some real ones on the way out). We explored the Foreign Cultures Building briefly. Hope and I walked around Amity Square together, came out the entrance on the other side of the park, and headed to the Hearthome Contest Hall to look around. Nothing was taking place there today, but I wanted them to be familiar with it in case we ever competed there in a tournament.

In the evening, we headed to the Center. I hurried past the building next to it, trying not to look up.

* * *

I had an email waiting for me – Professor Rowan was asking for our contact information, now that poketch messaging and calling were finally coming out. I sent him my info and vidcalled Megan. Hope was out because she was in a high-energy mood from burning energy all day. I don't understand how togepis work.

"Where are you now?"

"Just arrived in Hearthome," I said. Hope was squirming, so I put her on the table next to the computer.

"Nice. Any plans on fighting the gym?"

"It won't be for a few days at least. Fantina's a lot harder to beat than Maylene."

"You've got type advantages, right?"

"I mean, yeah, Faith has some attacking advantages, and Trust is immune to ghost moves. But Fantina gets around fighting-type immunity with flying and psychic moves, and Faith has weaknesses to ghost, psychic, dark…" I caught Hope as she fell, squealing, off the table.

"Sounds like you know her team pretty well, though."

I made a face. "Only because I've had to fight her three times before."

"Three?"

"Yeah. Last time. I got overconfid– Hope, chill." Hope was cliff jumping from the table now. I shifted my chair and the computer screen so that I could catch her easily. "I fought her on my second day here, and then I was _still_ overconfident and fought her two days later, and then I flew to Twinleaf and trained there for a bit. By the time I finally got back and beat the gym, it had been a week since I first tried."

"You flew to Twinleaf?"

"I– Yeah, I flew to Twinleaf," I said, surprised by my own words.

"Do you remember what for?"

"I'm not…" I snapped my fingers when it came to me. " _Research_. Professor Rowan sent me to Lake Verity to do some preliminary Lake Trio research, so I was in Twinleaf for a while."

"So you'll be in town for your birthday?" Megan sounded excited; I hated to disappoint her.

"I'm… not sure."

"Oh."

"We were assigned the Lakes based on who could get where. I had a staravia by then."

"How's your togepi doing?"

The togepi in question let out a "Prrrii~" I caught her again and held her up to the screen. Megan smiled.

"She hasn't evolved yet. And even then, I don't think she'll be large enough to fly with until she's a togekiss, and I don't own any shiny stones."

"We'll figure something out," Megan concluded.

I nodded thoughtfully. We both were quiet for a bit, which was odd because there should have been a lot to say? But it felt like nothing needed to be said. We were good just sitting there at opposite screens. Even Hope let it happen, sitting silently for a bit. And then she resumed her game, jumping off the table with a squealy giggle.

"So what are you doing for the next few days?"

"Probably just training a bunch. I… yeah." I finished awkwardly.

Megan made a face. "What was that?"

"What was what?"

Her face said "are you for real you clearly just stopped talking before telling me something."

"I, uh… I might… I told you about the espeon I had last time?"

"I heard about an eevee."

"Yeah. Her name was Emmy, she…" I smiled a little thinking of her. "She was the sweetest pokemon on my old team. I don't think she ever got mad, and she could talk even Jirra and Liana down from a fight."

"She sounds really nice."

"That's not even the half of it. She…" I shook my head in wonder. "She was a natural at making people happy." Hope stopped jumping off the table to listen. "During the… In the period of time after Lucas died, she was the only one who could bring me anywhere near happy."

Damn, now I was getting sad. "Anyways. I might go find her again. She's one of Bebe's eevees – Bebe, like the pokemon storage system manager – so she's pretty close to here."

"Nice! So you'll get one of your old pokemon back."

"Yeah." I ended the subject at that.

* * *

Red eyes returned to my dreams that night. I woke up at 5, tried to sleep until 5:30, and got out of bed.

I went out to route 208. The sky just before sunrise was lovely: worn-through patchy rainclouds passing through, gray as a mild winter. As day broke, you could see through them the gold glow that they failed to block completely.

Since it was an unreasonable hour to wake my pokemon, I went on a run and did some personal training before starting with them. Prom and Trust were quickly becoming training buddies, sparring and learning moves together. I let Hope wander a little (only a little) and worked with Faith. I hoped she'd be able to focus more, now that she was away from Solaceon. This hope was misplaced (unlike my togepi AMIRITE).

"Okay. Come on. It's just shadow punch."

She was just starting to spin ghost energy out of the air (I swear things always happen when we're finally getting somewhere) when there was a rustle in the grass.

I turned to make sure the pokemon wasn't attacking.

It was a ralts. I grinned ruefully, remembering how much I'd wanted to catch one ages ago, when I started out as a trainer the first time. But the darn raltses always teleported away.

Wait.

"Faith, use mean look."

I didn't even think. But Faith made her move, and the ralts was trapped, and suddenly I was going through with this?

"Okay! Use hypnosis!"

The ralts used double team – the hypnosis missed – and then confusion. "Ow!" Faith said.

"Nightshade – hit as many as you can!"

The dark move plowed down three quarters of the circle before one of the raltses reacted. "That one! Full blast!"

The ralts flinched, instinctively trying to teleport. He didn't dodge Faith's attack in time, as a result.

I threw an empty pokeball. The ralts dematerialized and swooped in – the ball shook once.

Twice.

I had a _ralts_.

Trust and Promise had noticed what was going on, and now ran over to meet their new teammate. Hope was jumping. Faith grinned. "Nice job, Faith!" I said, patting her on the sort-of-material head.

I took a breath and tossed the pokeball. The ralts reemerged. He was pretty calm, considering.

"Hi. I'm Evelyn. This – this is Faith, Hope, Promise, and Trust."

My pokemon said their own greetings. "Ralts," responded the ralts.

"Yeah. They – we're a team. I'd really like you to join my team as well, if you're willing."

The ralts looked again at the four pokemon in front of me (I mean I presume he did. You can't see anything beneath a ralts's hair). Finally he nodded.

"Welcome aboard," I said to him. "Also… do you have a name?"

I felt something in my head – the mental equivalent of static through a radio. There was an inflection to it, a sort of rhythm.

"Oh." I physically couldn't say that. "…do you mind if I give you a name in human language?"

A shake of the head. I already knew what I wanted to call him, because this was the most certain I'd ever been about a pokemon.

"How's the name Definite?"

A nod, more enthusiastic than I'd have expected. And then there were five.

* * *

Midday, as I walked through town looking for a place to eat lunch, I passed someone tall in the street. We simultaneously did a double take as we passed, and wordlessly turned to face each other on the sidewalk.

"Haven't seen you in a while," I remarked.

"I'll say," said Thomas. "How did it go in Celestic Town?"

I laughed a little. He was behind by about three weeks. "Come with me," I said.

I summarized things over sandwiches. He'd missed out on what happened in Celestic – which went well – Veilstone – which went poorly – and I threw in Solaceon for the hell of it.

"Wow. Okay. That's a lot in three weeks."

"The life of a trainer waits for no one," I said sagely.

"Says you."

I looked at him questioningly. "Never mind," he said. "So… I guess you didn't find anyone?"

The last time I'd seen him, I'd spent a whole day looking for Liana. "No."

He nodded and looked down. "Yeah. I figured you'd have mentioned it."

I shrugged slowly. "I'm moving on. Your words helped. I caught a ralts today."

"Nice."

There was a lull as we ate our sandwiches.

"So–" He cleared his throat. "How long _have_ you been a trainer?"

"Since September."

"No, I mean…"

"Oh." I counted in my head. "A little under five months, plus this new run. So, roughly six and a half months."

"Only five months?"

"I still had more badges than you."

"That's why I'm surprised."

"Oh. I mean, I didn't visit home as often."

"That's true."

"How're the Sinnoh gyms treating you?"

"They're all right. I've beaten two so far."

I put down my sandwich, confused. "Two?"

"What?"

"I beat three. What have you been doing?"

"Oh. Exploring Sinnoh."

"Ah." Made sense. I'd lived my whole life here. Everything about this place was new to him.

I spent the rest of the day with him. We scrimmaged a little by the pokemon center towards the end of the day. He wound up sharing the room I'd gotten the night before.

"So how's it going with Lucas?" Thomas eventually asked. We were sitting on opposite bottom bunks.

I grimaced. I knew he'd probably ask at some point, but…

"That bad?"

"I don't know. We sorta got into a fight after I rescued him in Veilstone."

"What happened?"

I shook my head. "I'm not even sure. I said sorry to him about the part I did wrong, but I'm not sure it fixed us."

"That's not fair. You said you rescued him?"

"Yeah, but we were teleporting out, and my natu got knocked out, and when he came back with another natu from Looker I started yelling at him."

"Who?"

"Luc– oh, Looker? The agent you met in Jubilife."

"Oh. Well, you were worried for him."

"Heck yeah I was. And he jumped into the fight when we were trying to leave."

"He– okay, that's not even fair of him anymore."

"I know."

I must have looked pretty upset, because Thomas reached over and gently patted my head. "It's okay," he said. "He'll get over it by the next time you see him."

"Yeah." So I kept hearing. "I'll probably see him next week. Galactic is probably planning something that we need to go stop."

"Probably?"

"They did it last time around."

"Last…" Thomas made a face. "That's so weird to think about."

"Welcome to my world."


	28. Nightmare

***publishes the last chapter***

 ***immediately proceeds to write next chapter instead of studying for chem midterm***

 ***finishes chapter by midday Monday***

 ***has to wait until Sunday to publish anyways***

 ***well here we are***

 ***chem went well, dw***

* * *

On Friday, my ralts started talking.

"Is someone calling my name?" I finally said out loud, having spent the last five minutes looking around for another human.

" _MON DIEU YOU HEARD!_ " a voice shouted in my head.

"WHAT THE HECK?"

" _C'EST MOI!_ " Definite waved his arms.

"DEFINITE?"

" _YEAH!_ "

"FAM THAT'S GREAT BUT A LITTLE WARNING?"

He explained. He'd been working on telepathy for a long time, but he hadn't had much practice talking to humans. Also, he referred to human languages as "the human language."

"Definite, you're using two different languages."

" _Oui, I speak in psychic language and human language._ "

I dropped it, because it wasn't actually a problem.

I worked with Definite that day, more to gauge his abilities than anything. His double team was decent – his copies were few but convincing, about eight max. His only real attack was confusion, which wasn't very strong, like he'd mostly been taught to defend or escape. I could work with this.

In the evening, Thomas and I went for a picnic with our pokemon. On the way out, we passed by the house next to the pokemon center. Seven or twelve eevees were playing outside.

"Wow. It's like Bill's house," Thomas commented.

"Pretty much. Bebe lives there." I shifted Hope in my arms. "She runs the pokemon storage system in Sinnoh."

"So she's literally Bill?"

"I guess. They're friends. I'm pretty sure her eevee… flock? horde?… it started with Bill."

We found a grassy spot and set up. "Any plans tomorrow?" I said with a yawn.

"Maybe just training. I'm down to scrimmage you," he said. This was a recurring theme. I wasn't ready to battle him yet.

"Sure sure."

"Really?"

"Nah." I yawned again.

We let out our pokemon… aka five each. "Your poor sixth pokemon is missing our picnic," I chastised. Also a recurring theme.

"Oh, okay, I'll bring him out."

"Wait really?"

He looked at me.

"…Ah."

I pulled a box out of my backpack. "There's a really great–" I paused to yawn. "–mochi place–"

"Okay, I have to ask. Did you sleep at all last night?"

I stopped. "Yeah."

"When did you go to sleep?"

"Twelve. Woke up at three though."

" _What?_ "

"It's not a big deal," I muttered.

"Wh– did you have that one nightmare?"

"No." It was actually quite a nice dream. It was a dream about the friendship between me and Lucas the first time around, and I woke up and couldn't stop thinking about it.

"Well, go to sleep early tonight."

"Sure thing, _mom_."

Def spoke to me. " _Trust would like to know where there is a water fountain._ "

"I've got water," I said, digging into my backpack. I handed Trust the bottle.

"Mon."

" _He says thank you._ "

"You're welcome," I said, suddenly realizing how much the dynamic of my team had just changed.

* * *

I was tired as hell that night. When I fell asleep, I fell _deep_ asleep. The level of asleep in which you don't realize you're dreaming, and thus can't pull yourself out of it.

That's probably what brought it about.

* * *

Quasar lowered me to the ground in his talons. I hit the ground running, recalled him and quickly spotted Lucas running in the same direction.

"Where to? I yelled, pulling myself alongside him.

"Island in the middle," he called back. "A cave."

The slope of the lake floor curved upwards towards the island, making it reachable on foot in the bombed-dry lake. We dodged defeated grunts and pools of magikarp, slipping in the mud a bit, sprinting to the cave and hoping Saturn wasn't done yet, hoping for enough time to stop him.

Lucas and I ran into the cave, simultaneously drawing a pokeball each. Some of the grunts turned when they heard us, but Saturn didn't move. He was kneeling on the far side of the cavern.

I threw my pokeball. "Bree, stop him!"

My empoleon charged up and released one of her deadly hydro pumps. The grunts prepared to throw their own pokemon into battle, but suddenly Saturn was standing a meter to the right. Bree glowed magenta red and flew – _shot_ – backwards into the cave wall. She crumpled to the floor.

"Everyone else out," said Saturn, letting go of the pokemon he'd been kneeling over just a second before. He wore a glove with a red stone set in the back. The mythical lake pokemon Azelf floated in the air, eyes a piercing red, holding himself like a puppet supported by only a few points.

The grunts ran for it. Lucas caught my eye. "Don't worry," he said. "We've got this."

In the gentle cave light, his eyes glowed dark amber. And I wasn't worried. I mean, I wasn't terribly nervous to begin with, but furthermore I believed him, in all his sincerity, saying we had this covered.

"Yeah," I affirmed. "Let's go!"

We threw pokeballs at the same time: Owen and Lucas's infernape came out. "Flamethrower!" we both yelled.

Their fire flew at Azelf, who dodged and teleported I-couldn't-see-where. A boulder zoomed out, encased in magenta, and hit Owen in the head. He collapsed with a whine.

"Owen, get back. Emmy, go!"

"Infernape, flamethrower! Evelyn–"

I knew. "Emmy, psychic!"

The fire was surrounded in a purple glow – it took on a form of its own, like a fiery dragon. Under Emmy's control, it flashed through the dark space above, chasing after Azelf and trying to catch him. The fire circled him and drew tight like a snake constricting its prey.

A protect bubble fell out of the dragon's coils, crashing to the ground. It cracked upon impact, and Azelf wobbled out of it. A puppet controlled by a novice puppeteer.

The fire dragon turned magenta and dove, sweeping through Emmy and Infernape. They tumbled to the side and struggled to get up.

"Let's end this now!" Saturn growled, gesturing with a gloved hand.

Azelf teleported right in front of us, and suddenly it was Lucas who was surrounded by a crimson-pink glow. His face was still startled when he soared fifteen feet up, too far to reach but close enough to see clearly.

"Withdraw your pokemon and leave." Saturn's voice echoed through the chamber. "It's over."

Hands trembling in anger, I looked for a way out. There was always an alternate solution. There was always a way to win. I looked to Emmy and Infernape, and settled on Saturn.

"I said withdraw your pokemon!" Azelf's eyes flashed, and the light around Lucas brightened. His face twisted in pain.

I faltered. I _knew_ what to do, but if it didn't go well or hell even if it did go well Lucas could get hurt, he could get seriously injured. But then Saturn would win if I didn't. Fuck.

The pink grip flared up. Blood ran from Lucas's mouth. He clenched his fists and eyes, and it looked like he was shouting but no sound came out. _Shit_ this was bad. I nearly made up my mind to retreat, but the split second before I said anything, Lucas opened his eyes and looked at me.

 _Don't back down!_

"Emmy, shadow ball at Saturn's hand!"

She moved fast and aimed at the glove with a red chain crystal in it. She would have caught Saturn, but Azelf teleported in front and used protect.

Azelf's eyes turned a searing bloodred, the glow around Lucas seemed to engulf him completely, and for the first time in my life, I saw Lucas afraid–

 _Snap_.

His head jolted. Everything froze. We all stood in shock, not quite believing anything. The glow around Lucas faded, and he collapsed without grace to the damp cave floor.

 _What have I done?_

Infernape ran to his trainer, Emmy ran to me. Lucas did not move. Saturn stared with horror at the bent boy on the ground. Not even he saw this coming. A little blue pokemon-turned-killer hovered remorselessly by him.

 _What have you done? What have we done?_

 _WHAT HAVE I DONE?_

I don't know when Saturn and Azelf left. I wound up kneeling over Lucas with Infernape, checking for signs of life. There was no way. Unconscious, maybe. Could that happen? If your organs were crushed and your neck snapped and the rest of you dropped from fifteen feet, would you go unconscious? Could you at least be alive?

My heart beat twice as fast to make up for the pulse I couldn't find. Lucas's eyes were open, but the warmth I so closely associated with them was gone. I met Emmy's eyes.

I buried my face in my hands and screamed.

* * *

"Evelyn."

"…"

"Evelyn, you've been sleeping for fourteen hours."

"Well, fuck me," I muttered.

Silence.

"…please don't, though."

I didn't want to get up. I hadn't faced that nightmare in a while, and it had hit me hard, and I was tired from oversleeping. But I was moderately awake, and could have gotten up. It felt like I was waiting for something. I don't know what.

"C'mon, wake up."

"Go away." I turned my head into my pillow.

Thomas obliged, but not before picking Hope up and placing her next to my head. "Pri," she said as he left the room.

I sighed. "Sorry, Hope. I'm not feeling it today."

"Prri?"

"I just… I'm sorry. I don't know."

"Prii…"

I must have drifted off again. When I awoke, the room was warm. It was three.

Trust was out of his pokeball. Hope wasn't around. "Mon?" he asked.

"Hey there."

"Mon," he said again.

" _He's asking what happened_ ," said Definite.

I inhaled deeply and sat up in bed. "Nightmare," I said. "It was about the day Lucas died. You were there."

Trust looked alarmed. "Nonono, there wasn't anything you could've done," I said. "You were just there as Lucas's pokemon. Nothing any of us could've done."

The silence was as stickily warm as the afternoon.

"…'s something I could've done," I said softly. "Could've just… not attacked. Retreated. It was too late to do what I did."

Trust watched me with his light gray eyes.

"And then he'd have stayed alive," I said. "And maybe I wouldn't have had to start over. I wouldn't have you guys, but I'd have my old team still, and I'd still have my old friendship with Lucas. Now I keep thinking we're closer than we are, because I share more memories with him than he does with me. He barely knows me. He's alive… but he's not the same person. We're not nearly the friends I remember."

My eyes were watering a little, but I took a shaky breath and blinked until they dried. It doesn't count as crying if it doesn't fall out.

"Anyways… I should get up now. Where's Hope?"

The startled look on Trust's face was not a good sign.

She wasn't in the room, in her pokeball, in the hallways or the bathroom. "Definite, can you find her?" I asked frantically.

" _Je ne sais pas… I can try_."

I ran outside. Thomas was training with Marcassin and Cassie (his absol and quilava) by the Center. "Have you seen Hope?" I asked him.

"Your togepi? No."

I groaned. "I can't find her."

"Wait." He turned to face me. "You lost Hope?"

"Not on purpose–"

"No, you lost Hope?"

It took me a second.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP THIS IS SERIOUS"

We searched the rest of the building, splitting up floors until we'd scoured the entire Pokemon Center and the area immediately around it. "Okay," I said, getting desperate. "We can… You can head to the picnic spot, and I'll head toward Amity Square–"

" _I found her_."

I stopped and let Definite out so we could talk face to face. "Where is she?"

Not far. Nearby the Pokemon Center, luckily for us.

Bebe's house, unluckily for me.

I stood at the front door, fist poised to knock. "Go on," Thomas prompted me. I glared at him and… almost knocked on the door.

"What's wrong?" he finally asked.

The hand I'd raised to knock was sinking slowly. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"This is where I got my eevee."

"Your… Oh, you mean…?"

"Espeon, last time around."

"That's even more reason to knock."

I looked him straight in the eye, not even trying to hide my emotions. "That's why I _can't!_ I keep… Bebe gives away eevees all the time… If I keep letting my hopes up like this… And every time, they've been knocked down, with Bree, with Owen, with Liana…"

"You don't think your eevee's there," Thomas realized.

"There's no _way_ she's there."

"You don't want to think she's there."

"Of _course_ I don't, you think I _enjoy_ getting my hopes demolished?"

Thomas walked up to me. He stood there for a second without saying anything.

He knocked on the door.

"Either way, there's still one Hope who's definitely in there."

He backed up. Bebe opened the door. "Hello."

"Ah! Hello! Uh, my, I'm so sorry, my togepi–"

"Prrrri~!" I heard inside.

"Oh, so _that's_ where she came from. No worries, happens to the best of us. Keira's a top coordinator, and her buneary runs off almost daily." She opened the door wider. "Come on in."

Tentatively, I stepped inside. I looked back – Thomas was nowhere in sight.

 _…Arceusfuckingdammit, Thomas._

Bebe's small house was as full to bursting with eevees as I remembered. Last time it felt joyful; this time it felt like the walls were crawling. I felt my heart beating in my chest and my ears. Just get Hope and leave.

"Pri~" Hope was playing with an eevee. The eevee darted around her, suddenly here, suddenly there, suddenly nuzzling Hope with a fuzzy face. Hope's shrieks of laughter split the air.

"Hope," I sighed in relief. "There you are." I picked her up, patting the eevee on the head. "Darn it, Hope."

"Prrrri~" she said, sounding distressed and reaching towards the eevee she'd befriended.

"Aw, she's made a friend!" Bebe stood with a hand on her hip, a lopsided grin on her face. "Would you like to adopt her? I can check your records, and then you could take her off my hands."

My heart sank – this was a direct offer, not like Bebe's usual "Oh take a look around and see who you like." Which was cool... but it wasn't Emmy.

Except it was.

"Vee," she said cheerfully. I knelt down, shaking, holding back the rising hope within me, and reached out a hand. Hope's eevee friend sniffed it. I could see the odd lavender flecks in her brown eyes.

 _It's you._

She pushed her head into my hand in a friendly way. I scratched behind her ears, the way she liked.

I finally cried.


	29. Tourist

**HELLO FRIENDS**

 **A few things. First, I'm soon hitting finals week so it'll be probs 2 or 3 weeks til the next update.**

 **Second, the battle in this chapter is (very) loosely based on my college's most recent men's basketball tournament game. Don't guess my college. That's weird.**

 **Enjoy~**

* * *

"Courage?"

"Apparently. It didn't occur to me to ask, cause I already knew her as Emmy, but Definite was like, 'By the way, Evelyn, I dunno why you're calling her Emmy but that's not right. Her name is Courage, with 'heart' in front'."

"…what?"

"I'm paraphrasing. He's saying her name is Coeur-age, because he doesn't recognize our pronunciation of the word courage. Coo-hage, to him."

"Interesting. So you're calling her that?"

"I guess so. I mean, I still know her best as Emmy, but Courage is her real name. So."

Megan nodded thoughtfully. It was a Sunday and she was doing nothing today, meaning she was still in a t-shirt and sweats.

"So," she said. "Your birthday plans."

"Uh… I don't really have any. I mean, Lucas and Dawn and I are going to Stark Mountain to fight Galactic, but nothing birthday-specific."

"But how are you getting there?"

"Teleporting with Looker's pokemon."

"Any chance you can teleport here?"

"I don't want to impose that on Looker… he looks more and more frazzled every time I see him," I said, although I felt guilty for not saying yes. "We videocalled with Lucas and Dawn earlier today and he was a mess. I'd be abusing his travel abilities, which he could get in a lot of trouble for. Plus I have to go to Valor – the Professor assigned me Lake Valor – right after getting back from that."

"You already thought about it, then."

"Yeah." I shrugged, although I was a bit sad about it. "If I'm back early enough I can call you to chat. I'll just come back to Hearthome and head to Valor in the morning… Assuming Stark Mountain doesn't take all day."

Megan nodded slowly. "Okay. Message me once you're back and ready to vidcall."

"Will do."

We paused when that topic was dealt with. I breathed. "I think… I think there's a problem with me and Lucas," I said.

"What happened?"

"We called… Twice, actually, once with Looker and Dawn, once with the Professor and Dawn. He just kept ignoring me. Like, Dawn and I would both say something minor… he'd only respond to her."

"You're probably fine. It's hard to communicate fully when you don't even know who the other person is looking at."

I shook my head. "I don't know. I have a gut feeling."

"Well, what could he be mad at you for?"

"Just Veilstone, I think."

"And you already apologized."

"Yeah."

Megan gestured in a "what else can you do?" way. "If he's still mad at you over that, he needs more excitement in his life."

I snorted. "Not too much."

She hesitated for a second, then huffed once she knew what I was saying. "Obviously not _that_ kind of excitement."

I laughed for real. In the back of my mind, I was amazed that I could joke about this with her. The rest of the time, Lucas's death was still too real and recent.

"So. How's the gym?"

"I'm going for it tomorrow. We've been training a heck ton. I even taught Emmy shadow ball, just in case."

"Emmy."

"…Damn it. Coeur. Courage."

* * *

And now, an obligatory gym battle scene. You're welcome. Happy Monday.

"This battle is a continuous three-on-three match between the gym leader, Fantina, and the challenger, Evelyn Meyers from Twinleaf Town. Only the challenger may make substitutions. The battle ends when all three of one trainer's pokemon are knocked out. Battlers, are you ready?"

"Ready."

"Mais oui."

 _She speaks Definite's language, hah._

"Battle… begin!"

"Gengar, allons-y!"

"Definite, it's yours!"

"Begin with confuse ray!"

"Double team twice!"

The gengar's confuse ray twinkled uselessly into one of Definite's copies, eliminating one of the sixteen raltses now circling her.

" _You know, you can speak to me in your head, too._ "

" _Oh! Like this?…Can you hear me?_ "

" _Oui_."

"Gengar, use poison jab!"

" _Confusion._ " It was easy, like thinking at him.

Definite teleported a meter to the side. Gengar glowed pink for a split second. I shivered a little. I hadn't realized before how close in color Def's psychic attacks were to Azelf's.

" _Keep it up._ "

"Shadow claw!"

Def teleported and attacked, again, with a short pink burst of energy. He got hit once; I conveyed to him the importance of dodging over attacking, because of the type advantage of shadow claw.

" _One more time–_ "

One final confusion attack was all he needed to knock the gengar out. Wow. We were in good shape.

"Gengar, return," said Fantina. "You certainly found a way around the disadvantage."

I shrugged. "The only problem with setting a psychic-type up against ghost-poison is the defensive aspect. Definite dodges well, which clears that up."

Fantina nodded and selected another pokemon. "Drifblim, assiste-moi!"

"Definite, return. Promise, it's yours! Crunch!"

"Minimize!"

The drifblim gained a bit of altitude, evading Promise's jaws. She proceeded to shrink rather considerably.

"Prom, sonic boom!"

He executed the move… which missed. Drifblim shrank a little further.

"Now gust!"

"Protect."

Gust is kind of a wide move, meaning it's very hard to dodge at close range. Promise tried to dodge rather than use protect (Prom why?) and tumbled back.

"Prommm…"

"Bui," he said indignantly, getting up. Whatever. Not time to scold.

"Prom, aqua jet. Head it with ice fang."

"Ominous wind!"

"Be fast!"

Fast he could do. Ominous wind is wide like gust, but Prom was already out of the way, rocketing around with aqua jet. It looked solid but out of control, whizzing here and there.

"Gust!"

It hit Promise, who rolled in the air and lost his water and ice. "Get aqua jet back!" I said. Prom, in his hurry, made a water source too close to his mouth and choked on water before he could take off. Drifblim loaded up for a massive ominous wind.

"You can do it!"

Promise tried once more to make his aqua jet work, and got a slow one going. It was no match for the ominous wind which he barreled head-on into.

At this point I was looking… Was there anything? Drifblim was about a quarter her usual size, and aqua jet was the best physical move that could still plausibly hit. Prom was holding his left paw a little gingerly, like he'd hurt it. When did that happen? …Oh, right, he'd fallen earlier.

"Go with ice fang!"

He lunged and Drifblim backed up; Prom rolled and sprang again, a little lopsidedly because of his paw, but he latched onto one of the ribbony parts of the drifblim.

"Use gust!"

"Hold on tight!"

Prom withstood the wind in his face. Ice crystals started spreading over the drifblim's body. At some point Promise couldn't hold on any longer and let go, but when the wind stopped, Drifblim was grounded by the weight of the ice.

"Now's your chance! Ice fang!"

Prom sprang at the stationary pokemon, who sent a weak gust his way. This time, Prom didn't let go, instead taking the light pokemon in his jaws and shaking his head wildly. The drifblim didn't stand a chance.

I exhaled and withdrew Promise as Fantina withdrew Drifblim. Aqua jet still needed work, but ice fang was all we needed against the half-flying type. Noted.

"My last pokemon – Mismagius!"

It was between Faith and Courage. Faith was ghost-poison with ghost and dark moves, Emmy – dammit, _Courage_ – is normal type with shadow ball. I should have thought this out better.

"Ok. Faith."

"Psybeam!"

"Sucker punch!"

Faith executed the move, letting it ram her into the mismagius. She ducked under the psychic move.

"Nightshade," I said.

"Magical leaf."

The moves hit in midair – some of the magical leaves got through to slice at Faith. "Again!"

"Shadow ball."

We went back and forth like that for a bit, exchanging moves from afar. A few leaves kept getting through, steadily chipping away at Faith while nothing hit the mismagius.

"Get in there with sucker punch!"

"Psybeam!"

Mismagius was ready for her this time. Faith hit, but immediately she was blasted at point-blank range. It propelled her into the ground, where she bounced instead of dematerializing.

It happened so much faster than I thought it would. My heart sank. It's difficult to describe why exactly, but at that moment, when Faith was out of the battle, I knew we were done for.

Which wasn't for lack of trying. We kept at it, even though my gut feeling said it wouldn't go well. It didn't. Def was no match for the mismagius; Promise lasted longer but the whole thing became a mess because of his paw. He was just kind of continually suffering under the magical leaf type disadvantage. When he went down I was almost relieved.

Guess our first gym attempt was over.

* * *

"I lost," I said.

"Aw. It's okay, you'll beat her soon enough."

"I know."

"Why are you so down?" Thomas asked.

I didn't deny it. It was the kind of sadness where you stop caring if people know you're down. I could feel it radiating off me like visible waves of heat. "I don't know. I've lost to her before. I don't know why it's such a big deal now."

"Is it… Are you on your period?"

I glared at him.

"I'M SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN IT LIKE THAT I'M JUST TRYING TO HELP I'M SO SORRY."

I looked back at the table of the Pokemon Center's lobby. "I'm not. And I don't really get PMS in the first place."

"So… huh."

The nurse called me up to retrieve my healed pokemon. I stood up and stretched. He stood too.

"Do you know where the Cultural place is, by the way?" he asked.

"The… the Foreign Cultures Building?"

"I think so."

"Why would you want to go there?"

Thomas blinked. "Why not?"

"There's nothing there for trainers."

"I don't mind."

I watched him. His face was perfectly blank, giving the illusion of openness. It was definitely a mask.

"…all right."

* * *

The Foreign Cultures Building was close to vacant at this hour. It was lit by sunlight alone, making it dim for now because of the wrong angles between the sun and the stained glass windows. This is why it was more popular in the evening.

Thomas and I sat at the edge of a pew. We weren't really talking or anything. Just sitting there admiring the glass and the architecture and the musty smell of antiquity.

"…April used to talk about this place," he finally said.

I glanced sideways. The mask was fading; his face was tinged with sadness.

"Is that why you wanted to come here?"

"N… well, y… She just made it sound nice."

"Mm."

There was a little trail of light from a hole in the roof somewhere. Dust swirled around it. Drifting. Like it was defying gravity but also adhering to it creatively.

"Where else have you been?"

He hesitated, meaning he knew what I meant. "The bridge in… what is it, metal town?"

"Canalave?"

"Yeah. And the flower fields around Floaroma."

"Glad you're exploring Sinnoh," I said offhandedly, as though I didn't know why he went.

Thomas looked down at his shoes.

"Is April from Sinnoh?" I asked. He nodded.

Light started to filter in through the stained glass windows. Thomas got up. "Sorry, I… This is weird. I must seem so creepy. Sorry you had to see me like this. Let's go now."

"No, it's fine. And we can't leave yet."

"Why not?"

"Sit back down, tourist."

He sat back down, and we waited.

The sun slid into the angle the building was designed for. Panes of glass lit up like hot stones in the walls, illuminating the entire hall with warm colored light.

I think at this moment, I finally related to him. Which isn't to say we had nothing in common – we'd talked before about trainer life and love lives. There was something different about… just two sad people sitting next to each other. Just two people feeling the same pain and being a comforting presence to each other.

The tourists started to trickle in, and we left the building.


	30. Birthday

**IT BEGINS**

 **YOU'RE NOT READY FOR THIS CHAPTER AHAHAHAHA**

 **Also Eduardo go to sleep.**

* * *

Looker showed up in the morning, out behind the Pokemon Center like he said he would. "Ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Great." He handed me a pokeball. "Happy birthday. See you soon," he said, teleporting away.

Well, he remembered.

Thomas hadn't remembered. I mentioned it briefly and he said happy birthday. He was staying in Hearthome to fight the gym and _hopefully_ catch up to me in badges. Tricia texted me a happy birthday via poketch. Megan didn't. Maybe she slept in… on a Tuesday? Maybe she was sick.

I teleported to a place I had never seen before – a rocky mountainside, made dark by cloud cover. We stood next to a cave entrance. "Are Dawn and Lucas on their way?" I asked Looker.

"Just… let me brief you first," he said, sounding worn out.

I finally got a good look at him. His face was shadowed by stubble and violet bags under his eyes.

"Looker, what happened?"

He shook his head. "Nothing, exactly… I've just been having problems finding info."

So he'd done nothing but try. "Looker, you need to take care of yourself."

"Not before we know what we're doing."

I stared at him and sighed a little. This was an argument for later. "So, what have you found out?"

"It's… complicated. There were conflicting sources, but it boiled down to: there's a stone in Stark Mountain that can wake Heatran and probably control her. It's either called the Heat Stone or the Magma Stone, probably the latter, and Galactic probably wants it to analyze its similarity to the Red Chain. Or else they want it because it might speed up the process of making their Red Chain."

I had no words. Probably. We were working with more probablies than I'd ever heard in my life.

Looker avoided my eyes. "I know… I'm so sorry…"

"It's not your fault."

He grimaced.

"Looker! You did everything you could."

He jumped a little when I raised my voice. He smiled halfheartedly, but it faded fast. "Sorry. I'm not accustomed to not knowing things. I prefer to have the answers. This adds so much uncertainty to an otherwise mundane mission."

"We'll be okay with what we've got. Same deal as Celestic Town? Go in there, grab the stone, fend off Galactic?"

"From what I can tell, yes."

"Okay."

We paused for a second, sort of letting the plan sink in. It sounded good to me. Straightforward.

"I'll get the other two," said Looker.

It was a matter of him teleporting back and forth a bit – first to Celestic to give Dawn a natu, then to Pastoria to retrieve Lucas's kadabra and imprint our location, and back again to Pastoria to drop off the kadabra with Lucas again. He could have just given my natu to Lucas. It's fine.

Dawn and I were alone for a bit during this time. "How've you been?" I asked her.

"Pretty good. I caught a swablu around Celestic Town," she said.

"Ooh, nice."

"How are you?"

"I'm good. Made a gym attempt yesterday, but it looks like I'll have to go back once we're done with the lake research."

"Good luck."

"Thanks."

Polite, but not cold. We parted on strange terms, but not bad terms, so we were okay.

Lucas teleported in looking in my direction. He quickly looked away. My stomach sank.

"Hi," said Dawn. Lucas nodded at her.

"…Hey," I tried.

Lucas silently said hello. His eyes did meet mine. My stomach came back up and did a little flip. I hadn't… expected… Maybe we were okay now.

Looker briefed them a little less thoroughly and a little more definitively, and we were off.

The journey to the center of the mountain took several hours. The air became progressively warmer as we walked (I was very glad we'd all left our jackets behind), although there weren't loads of magma pools everywhere like I'd assumed. There also wasn't a ton of small talk, as neither Lucas nor I did much of that in general. It was mostly him and Dawn conversing, which I was okay with because at least he was here, and at least the air between us wasn't strained and angry.

" _Trust would like to know pourquoi tu te sens nerveuse_ ," Definite telepathized.

" _Pardon?_ "

There was a pause as Def communicated with Trust.

" _Why you are nerveuse_ ," Def tried again.

" _Nervous?_ "

" _Oui._ "

" _Uh… I don't like caves._ "

" _He says you were attacked in Oreburgh Gate?_ "

" _Oh, well, yes, but that's not why they make me nervous. There was… ahh… an incident. Did Trust tell you about…?_ "

" _The time travel?_ "

" _Yeah. And the Valor incident._ "

" _Oui, je sais._ "

" _Sorry?_ "

" _He did tell me._ "

…okay, let's be real, I didn't like being in a cave with Lucas again. Particularly on an anti-Galactic mission.

Speaking of which.

"Do either of you think it's weird that we haven't seen Galactic yet?" I eventually said.

"They might be closer to the center of the mountain," Dawn said.

"No, we're already here," Lucas informed us.

We'd reached a pair of massive stone doors. Intricate carvings depicted a heatran and a sort of pyramid with a lump on top.

"See anything?" Dawn asked, meaning ways to open doors made of giant heavy-looking blocks of stone.

I scanned the doors. There were no latches or handles or magic riddles to solve, apart from the ornamental carvings that, as far as I could tell, translated roughly to "yep there's definitely an altar in here." The one promising clue was the fact that the doors didn't seem to touch the ground, but rather hovered slightly above it.

I put up my hands and gave the doors a shove.

"Oh. Nice," said Dawn, surprised, as the doors slowly swung completely open.

It seemed too easy, but inside there was a stone staircase upward, and there was a glowing pink psychic barrier around the top, so perhaps that was supposed to be enough.

We climbed upward (what no I wasn't winded by the top) (also no my thighs weren't on flipping FIRE) (I bet the stairs were the real deterrent) ("ugh I'm too tired to climb up all the way forget this let's go home") (anyways I digress). At the top, I pulled out a pokeball.

"Faith, use nightshade," I said, releasing her.

Faith appeared and sent a crimson beam of energy at the psychic bubble. It sort of melted a hole in it, a low door of dark energy. I withdrew her and the three of us slipped in.

The Magma Stone (probably the Magma Stone, maybe the Heat Stone) was about the size of a backpack, and looked just like any other rock in the mountain. Unlike the other rocks, it was very warm to the touch. Lucas picked it up.

"You got it?" I checked.

He shifted it so that it was comfortable in his arms. "Yeah."

The three of us stepped out of the psychic barrier. I withdrew Faith. " _Someone else is here_ ," said Definite.

I looked down the stairs. Jupiter, flanked by two grunts. Dawn and Lucas and I drew pokeballs.

"You again?" she said incredulously.

"Us again," I confirmed.

"How in hell…?" Jupiter huffed visibly. "All right. Hand us the stone."

 _Wow, I'm so scared._ I mean, come on, it was her and two grunts versus three actual trainers. I found this funny, but the humor died when I realized who was holding the Magma Stone, and who was thus going to be Jupiter's target in the inevitable coming battle.

"Guess we'll just fight through you, then," she said.

The three of them released a skuntank and a horde of golbats. I instinctively tried to grab Liana's pokeball because she knew discharge and there were a _lot_ of golbats.

 _Get it together Evelyn, it's been well over a month._

We collectively brought a golduck, prinplup, kadabra, ralts, growlithe, and buizel into the battle. "If we take out the grunt pokemon first, we'll have the advantage in the end," I said to Dawn and Lucas.

And then the earth shook.

We caught ourselves before we could fall. The air between us and Jupiter shimmered. It darkened and solidified into brown and gray and fiery orange.

We all froze. The beast that had appeared slowly turned around, placing one heavy leg after another until she was looking straight at us.

Unleashing Heatran was _not_ one of Looker's probablies.

She roared and powered up for a fire attack, gathering magma at her mouth. "P-prom, use anything water," I stuttered. He blasted a watergun at the magma ball, which gave off steam as it hit. Kenna added her bubblebeam to solidify it further.

Heatran roared and for some reason turned around again – it looked like Jupiter was attacking. We flew into a chaos of should-we-fight-Heatran-or-Galactic-or-both, with our psychic types trying to reach the golbats on the other side of Heatran, Prom and Kenna trying to stop Heatran from shooting magma everywhere, and the others darting past to fight Galactic directly. "Lucas, the stone!" said Dawn, pointing up at the altar.

Heatran lifted herself off the ground and slammed back down, rocking the entire chamber back and forth. I saw Lucas, who was climbing the stairs, lose his balance.

I lunged. My hands caught his back before he could really fall. I pushed him gently back up – he was light – and he ran to the top. He released a houndour to cut through the psychic shield and placed the Magma Stone back on top–

The air stilled. Heatran vanished; the rest of the fighting ceased. Lucas left the stone and ducked back out of the psychic shield, which closed up once he'd exited.

Jupiter picked herself back up, breathing hard. We all were, some more from the adrenaline rush of the situation than physical exertion.

"Well. That was… enlightening," she said between breaths. "We're heading out."

With that, they withdrew their pokemon and ran out of the room. Dawn and Lucas and I couldn't figure out what to say.

"…success?" I said out loud.

* * *

We teleported straight out and told Looker what happened. He looked distraught.

"This is all my fault. I'm so sorry to have put you through this–"

"Looker, it's all right–"

"It's not all right, Lyn."

"We're fine, see?"

"It was reckless danger. I'm sorry. Go back to where you were before."

We said our goodbyes. Looker escorted Dawn back to Celestic Town. I brought Definite out. "See you later," I said to Lucas. He neither looked at me nor responded.

"Lucas?" I said.

"Hm?"

I studied his face – his eyes were calm but cool, like he was pretending not to be… what?

"Are… you okay?"

His eyes flicked up to mine briefly. "I'm fine," he said.

"…okay." He looked away.

I took Def's hand. "See you then," I said.

"Bye."

I blinked and suddenly we were back in Hearthome, behind the pokemon center. It was barely early afternoon.

" _You are sad?_ "

I looked down at Def and sighed. "A bit," I said out loud. "Def, do you know why Lucas is mad at me?"

" _Non. I sense emotion, rather than read minds._ "

We went back to the pokemon center to get cleaned up and healed. I couldn't stop overthinking it. Lucas was mad. I think. But still? Why did it get better in the morning? What the fuck was wrong with him?

What was I supposed to do to make us better?

* * *

After I showered, I went downstairs to retrieve my pokemon from the front desk and probably eat lunch or something. Thomas was nowhere to be found.

"Evelyn!"

Wait, what?

I turned around quickly and saw Megan walking toward me. "Either I'm hallucinating or you're _actually_ visiting me on a Tuesday during school," I said, stunned.

She laughed. "I've obviously got a bad cold. I can't go to school like this."

I shook my head, grinning. We hugged each other. "Happy birthday," Megan said, handing me a little box.

"Thanks."

She hadn't eaten yet either, so we went out to lunch. She'd dressed up for my birthday more than I had. This was the most we'd interacted in person since… It must have been over three months ago for me?

At some point she did ask me about Stark Mountain.

"Uh… it was weird. I think we were worried about nothing." I explained how the Magma Stone was more of a seal than a pokemon-controller. "Galactic couldn't have made use of it anyways."

"Huh. Glad it turned out okay, I guess."

"I… yeah…"

She tilted her head. "What?"

I struggled for words. "Lucas," I said finally.

"Oh no."

I couldn't help but laugh a little at her reaction. "Accurate. He seemed okay with me early on, and then by the end he didn't want to talk to me."

"Did something happen?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. We just kinda traveled through the mountain, then we got the stone, then we had to kinda fight Jupiter and Heatran, then Dawn figured it out and he put the stone back and we were done. I don't know what I missed."

Megan huffed. "He's so weird…"

"Yeah… Well, enough of my drama. Anything interesting in your life?"

She shrugged. "Not much. Visiting my best friend for her birthday."

I grinned. Aww.

It was like the shitty part of the day had never happened. In the back of my head I was worried about Lucas per usual, but the rest of me was smiling and laughing with my best friend.

(…was that fair? I was used to saying both her and Tricia. But now there was one I talked to more than the other, one who knew more of me than the other…)

I breathed in the city air. Megan. My best friend.

She stayed for the rest of the afternoon. We wandered the city, explored Amity Square, tried making poffins at the Poffin House (Megan's batch came out really nice what the heck), and generally enjoyed the city. If I'm being honest, I wouldn't have done any of these things if Megan wasn't there. I'd have… I don't know. Stayed in all day, maybe. Probably.

She had to leave at sunset – the last train back to Twinleaf was leaving at 6, and she was planning to attend school the next day.

"Thanks so much for visiting," I told her.

"Anytime. You should visit home sometime. You have a ralts, right?"

"Yeah, but psychic types need to imprint on a location before they can teleport to it."

"Do you want me to take him back to Twinleaf?" Megan asked.

"And have him teleport back? That would be great, actually."

Her train pulled into the station. I handed Def's pokeball to her and we hugged one last time. "Good luck at Lake Valor," she said.

"Thanks. See you," I said.

Megan turned and walked to the train. She has this certain walk, where she sort of holds her limbs slightly aloft from her body as she moves.

And I don't know why exactly it happened – maybe because I'd missed her, maybe because I was upset about Lucas, maybe because she'd crossed half the Sinnoh region to see me on my birthday – but very suddenly, while watching her walk away, I realized something. I waved to her as the train pulled away, but my mind was still reeling.

Because it hit me that she was beautiful, and that if I'd let myself, I could easily have fallen for her.


	31. Lake Valor

**Here we are!**

 **We're hitting midterms round one and lmao physics is gonna screw me over but the chapter after this one is halfway done already. I'm gonna try to get it out next Sunday.**

 **If you forgot all of Thomas's pokemon, there's a reference on my profile. Just click my name.**

 **All right! Enjoy!**

* * *

Thomas had obtained his third gym badge (good riddance), so the next morning he and I headed out to Lake Valor. He figured he could get a badge from Pastoria and then go up to Veilstone.

"Do you want to stay longer to fight the Hearthome gym again?"

"Nah. Def has teleport. I'll just come back after."

While packing to head out, I found a hard edge I didn't recognize in my bag. I pulled it out – it was Megan's gift.

 _I could easily have fallen for her._

Can I just explain why this was a terrifying thought?

I hadn't stopped thinking about it all night. The minor reasons were things like "I have no idea how my parents feel about this kind of thing" and just the general shock factor of having always assumed I was straight SURPRISE TIME TO QUESTION EVERYTHING

But the major factor was her. Megan was my _best friend_. I couldn't fall for my best friend – what if she found out I liked her and things got weird between us? Or what if she turned out to be nonstraight too and we started dating and things went downhill and never got back up? It was our friendship I wanted to preserve above anything.

This was all hypothetical, though. Lucas. I liked Lucas. Maybe I was just stressed out about him. Yeah. That must have been it.

I unwrapped the gift and opened the box. A necklace, just a thin chain and a pendant in the shape of a heart.

I looked closer. Was that a shiny stone?

Yeah. A shiny stone. So that I could fly home.

(Yes I know I have a ralts who teleports but the sentiment is important)

I looked at my reflection in the closet door mirror. She and I sighed.

 _Megan, what am I going to do about you?_

I walked up to the mirror to clasp the necklace, but paused.

…maybe later. This felt too soon.

I put the necklace back in its box and headed out of the room.

* * *

And off we went. It took me well over a week just to get to Pastoria, first time around, but this time we only needed about four days. Sunday was the day Looker had written "Shaymin" in the diary, but the day came and he didn't contact me. Monday was "Darkrai/Cresselia," and still there was no word.

I called him. "I know," he said tiredly when I brought it up. "But I don't have enough information and I don't trust the info I have."

"What are we going to do?"

There was silence on his end.

"I don't know," he whispered.

* * *

Thomas battled Crasher Wake while I vidcalled Tricia.

"How's it going?" she said.

"Good," I answered. "I'm doing some research at Lake Valor for the Professor."

"Ooh, cool! Lucas is in town for Lake Verity."

"Yeah."

"How's it going between you guys?"

I opened my mouth and tried to figure out what to say. How could I explain Stark Mountain without explaining Looker and Galactic and time travel?

"It's… okay. I mean, I think he's still mad at me."

"What happened?"

"I… I saw him and he was mad still."

"Do you know why?"

"I don't know." That wasn't a lie.

"Weird." She frowned. "Have you tried asking him?"

"No."

"Maybe that'll help."

Maybe. Worth a shot, I guess.

"Oh yeah, Megan visited you, right?" Tricia said.

"Yeah."

"Nice. My parents wouldn't let me go. But I hope you had fun."

But Tricia didn't know it was my birthday, so I'd have had to explain it if she did come. That or we'd have hid it from her. And now she didn't know about me possibly falling for Megan, which I couldn't tell her because that implied I was closer to Megan than Tricia, which was now true and the wall between us was growing and growing…

"Yeah. It was great. I actually gotta go, I think Thomas is done battling already."

"Oh, who's Thomas?"

ARCEUS WHY?

"My friend. I'll introduce you sometime. Gotta go."

* * *

"Do you have a pokemon that can surf?"

Thomas had to think about it. "No. Probably should."

I made a face. "Well, this'll be an adventure. I'm supposed to get to the cave if possible."

"Haven't you been there before?"

"Yeah. I might just say I went in and looked around and not specify when."

(Because I definitely wanted to go back in that cave again, and also my name is Rumpelstiltskin and I have snake arms)

Thomas (who now had four badges yay) and I stopped at the resort for a bit, then went on to Lake Valor. Clouds hung densely in the sky, the day more dark than damp. Upon passing through the trees, I smelled that particular fresh-air lake smell again. I shivered.

"Why am I here?" I muttered.

Thomas heard. "Do you want to turn back? You've already been here anyway–"

"No. Uh-uh." It was easier to reflexively deny Thomas than anything. I took a deep breath – aagh fuck not that smell again. "Let's go," I said, leading the way.

The research "plan" was to scout the edges of the lake for Arceus-knows-what and somehow make my way to the island in the middle. I'd probably ask to borrow Thomas's noctowl at that point.

"Are you _sure_ you're okay?" Thomas asked when we were a quarter of the way around the lake.

"I'm fine."

"You're literally clutching your stomach."

"There is a hand on top of my stomach. That's not the same thing."

"Evelyn–"

"Just let me get around this lake in peace."

At some point in the next five minutes or so, I happened to look up at the lake. We were walking along a path that wound through the trees near the shoreline. For a moment I thought I saw something small and misty above the water. A tree passed in front of my vision, and the thing was gone.

I stopped. "Did you see that?"

"See what?"

"Never mind." I kept walking, a little faster now.

We must have been… I dunno, like 5/8 of the way around the lake when I heard a yell and a crash up ahead. I broke into a sprint.

"What are you doing?" Thomas yelled.

"Seeing if they're okay!"

"It's probably a trainer battle!"

"We actually care about each other in Sinnoh!"

He fell behind. I snickered. It probably was a trainer battle. But now I was getting around the lake faster. Maybe I'd just keep running if things were okay.

That didn't happen. I saw Quasar.

"What the…" I noticed Mars. Her purugly. Quasar, my staravia, feebly trying to get up after being thrown into a tree.

"Oh no you _fucking_ don't," I snarled, hurling two pokeballs. "Trust, mach punch, Prom, brick break. Avoid the claws!"

Purugly hissed and swiped at the oncoming pokemon. Trust hit first and hit again; Prom hit nearly as fast. Purugly, who was battered already from fighting Quasar – _Of course he put up a fight_ , I thought a bit proudly – sank to his knees under their blows.

"Discharge! And finish it!" Mars cried, throwing out another pokemon. I steeled myself, physically and mentally, but there was nothing in this world – nothing in this universe that could have prepared me for coming face to face with her.

My second pokemon. My fighter. My luxray.

Liana.

I must have blacked out. One minute she and I had locked eyes, and the next thing I knew my pokemon were down and her eyes were alight with electric fire that burst from her fur–

"OLIVER!"

Something small leaped between me and Liana, shielding me from her electric discharge. I came back to my senses, and as Thomas stumbled in, breathing heavily as he had in Jubilife, I realized he'd sent out his sixth pokemon.

And, well…

Oliver was a wooper.

Thomas looked at me and frowned. "Are you all right?" he mouthed.

I shot a distraught look at him and shrugged. My stomach was worse than ever. Liana. I finally found Liana.

"I need backup!" Mars yelled into a radio.

Trust and Promise, I saw now, were paralyzed but conscious. Liana was fighting Oliver, swiping at him and snarling. The five-pointed star on her tail swished violently through the air. Oliver dodged with ease and grace and took the electric hits like they were nothing. I opened my mouth to tell Trust and Promise to do something.

Against Liana?

I hesitated. My chest hurt.

Mars's backup arrived in the form of five grunts circling us. Thomas and I automatically stood back to back.

"It's all right. I got us covered," he said, throwing his other five pokemon into the mix.

The grunts threw their pokeballs. Prom put up a protect around him and Trust. As much as my stomach and heart hurt, I couldn't just do nothing. I reached out to Definite.

" _Are you guys ready?_ "

There was a strange feeling in my head, like a psychic laugh.

" _Definitely._ "

Faith burst out of her pokeball without me needing to release her. Def teleported out, and I released Courage myself.

There are moments in trainer life when nothing goes right. But for every one of those, there's a moment where you're so, _so_ proud to be the leader of your team.

Courage darted through battle to bring cheri berries to Trust and Prom. Def teleported around, hitting the poison types with confusion, not lingering in any given spot for more than a split second. Faith popped in and out of shadows, using confuse ray on as many Galactic pokemon as possible so they'd start attacking each other.

Thomas's side of the battle wove through mine. Trust and Cassie amplified each other's fire attacks, Prom and Marcassin and Swaine danced around each other's targets, switching combat opponents to confuse them. Esther stunned the pokemon Faith hadn't confused, so that they were easy targets for the ones she had.

Liana managed to get far enough from Oliver to use discharge. It hit everyone in the vicinity – mostly golbats. One grunt. But it took out Silver and Prom.

I realized Coeur was staring at me. In retrospect, she must have seen the look on my face.

Coeur tackled Liana, who slashed back and cut her ear. Coeur ducked under Liana and blasted a shadow ball into her underside. Liana tried to use discharge but Oliver caught up and got in the way. Coeur kicked sand in Liana's eyes and used quick attack. Liana swiped and hit Oliver away, and her discharge hit Coeur. Coeur shook it off and dove back in.

Coeur and Luxray. Emmy and Liana.

Other battles wound down in our favor. Trust finished with a croagunk and sprang into the Coeur-Liana battle, falling hard with a brick break in the middle of Liana's back. She crumpled.

"Retreat!" Mars yelled.

The grunts recalled their pokemon and ran a few feet into the bushes. They zoomed out of there on hoverscooters – damn, I'd wondered when they'd start using those. Mars boarded behind a grunt. "I don't know why you're here, but in the end, Galactic will win. You'll see." With that, she sped off behind the other grunts into the distance.

Those of us left were breathing hard. I looked around. There was an ampharos I didn't rec– oh, it was Esther. I also saw a kirlia.

" _Congrats_ ," I told Def.

" _Merci beaucoup._ "

I turned around and locked eyes with Thomas. He had a smile of relief and a bit of triumph. Shit, he'd saved me again, hadn't he? With Oliver?

There was one other thing.

"Where's Quasar?"

"Who?"

Trust answered me before I could explain. I ran over to where he stood, staring into the bushes. At the base of a tree lay Quasar, three deep scratches across his throat. Trust checked for a pulse, and looked at me in pain.

"Liana," I muttered.

"Hm?"

"They were best friends."

I turned and started running. If Thomas tried to follow, my pokemon stopped him. I sprinted to get away and nothing was going away. The air stayed cold and dark and my chest wouldn't stop hurting. At some point I ditched the path and ran through the woods, low branches stinging my face, tall shrubs scratching my legs.

 _Mars has Liana killed Quasar Thomas saved me Looker is lost Tricia doesn't know Lucas is mad Megan oh no I can't I can't I can't I can't I can't I can't_

My pace slowed.

 _I can't I can't_

My legs grew heavy and stopped.

I buried my head in my hands and sank down.

What am I doing this for.

Water lapped at my feet – I'd reached the shore at some point.

Knees to my chest, something in me about to burst, something in me already burst.

 _I can't do this anymore._

I didn't notice for a moment that the blueness of the lake was not a reflection of the sky.

I looked up. A small figure, translucent and glowing blue, floated in front of me. My first reaction was to flinch, because I knew this pokemon as Lucas's killer. But Azelf's eyes were kind.

He reached out. I hesitated. He smiled.

I took his hand.

 _When I was little I had a bad habit of refusing to say goodbye. I'd see my friends the next day at school, sure, but I never wanted to leave their house right then. I did everything I could to lengthen the stay, and cried when we finally left._

 _Whenever I lost a playground game, I argued with the judge as to why I was still in. It delayed the game at least a minute every time – more if I didn't win the argument._

 _Megan and I had to make a paper roller coaster in middle school. I stayed up til three trying to perfect a specific piece of the track._

 _I remember training for three days with Trust in Oreburgh Gate so we could beat the rock-type gym. I remember running from Jubilife to the Valley Windworks in a few hours. I remember searching for Liana all day and thinking I'd go back the next day to do it again._

 _Megan, when I told her about going from a seven-badge trainer to being rescued by Thomas, said,_ _"Evelyn, you're going to be great. You're a strong, determined person, and even if you hadn't gotten there before, I know you'll be able to get there again."_

 _I can do this._

Azelf grinned. I stood up. My chest still ached, but beyond that there was a strength I'd forgotten. Strength of… the heart? Or, no, something else. A strength that told me I could – and would – keep going.

Of course. Strength of will.

Even though most of him was a clear shade of blue, Azelf's eyes were gold. Amber, even. Like Lucas's. Not at all red.

Why did it take so long to realize…

"It was Saturn who killed Lucas," I said. "Not you."

Still smiling, Azelf closed his eyes and vanished.


	32. Listening

**Fuck it, I'm uploading on a Tuesday. This is what happens when you finish your edits late on Sunday and forget to get it out Monday.  
**

 **(lmao I saw snow this weekend and it was great)**

 **(it's May rn)**

 **Ah also for reference, a "Kanto accent" is really just a British accent. tfw Britain doesn't exist in the Pokeverse.**

 **There's a bit of Lucas backstory in this. If you want a refresher, the last time I did something like this was Chapter 4 (Caves).**

 **Ok. Carry on.**

* * *

Of course I told Looker first.

"You met _who?_ "

"Azelf."

There was a splutter on the other end of the line. The call disconnected, and in a minute or so Looker was running in my direction from the lake resort's pokemon center.

"What?" he said.

I told him what happened at the lake. Quasar had probably attacked Mars first, out of territorialism. As shitty as Team Galactic was, they didn't normally attack pokemon out of nowhere. We stumbled upon them and a battle ensued but in the end my staravia was dead. And Liana was found, but mostly lost. And then I ran and Azelf appeared.

"Why?" Looker asked, taken aback.

"I think… I think because I needed willpower? I'm frankly not sure."

"Hmm," he mused. "I see."

Looker stood there for a bit, frowning at the ground, his thumb on his chin. He suddenly pulled out a pokeball and released a natu.

"Bye," he said, disappearing.

I blinked. That was… very odd.

* * *

I sat cross-legged on a low stone wall overlooking the lake. Night had fallen. I'd told Thomas I needed some time alone.

It was a blue night. I'd found the part of the resort that was sheltered from all the lights, so I had a good view of the lake. The clouds had gone away in the evening, and the night and the lake and the forest were a shade deeper than cobalt. There was only a sliver of moon tonight.

I was sitting there trying to absorb the peace of the lake, trying to let it wash the heavy, sticky feelings from my chest. They wouldn't go away. Azelf had lifted me up and showed me that I could go on, but emotions were not his domain, and he could do nothing about the ones whirling inside me.

There was a name that kept circling its way around my head.

"Prrri?"

I jumped; Hope was out of her pokeball. "Oh. Hey, Hope."

She looked concerned. "Prrrrri?"

"Oh, don't worry, it's fine, I, um, I'll be fine–"

Hope tried to hug my knee with her stubby arms. Something in me melted.

"I… aah. It's all right."

"Prri?"

"Yeah. I'm just thinking about Liana is all."

"Prrrri?"

I sighed. "I've been missing her a lot… I knew I wasn't getting Bree and Owen back once Dawn caught them, and I'm lucky to have found Courage, but Liana I've been trying to find since day one, and now that Mars has her, and Quasar is…"

"Togeprrri?"

"It's all right," I said again, even though saying it out loud had made it real and the fact that Quasar was gone and Liana was worse than gone was real and–

"I miss my team," I said, my voice suddenly too tight. I couldn't see; I blinked and the blurriness in my eyes slid down my cheeks.

"Prrrri!" Hope said defiantly. She tapped two pokeballs on my belt, and then hopped across my lap to open the others. Five pokemon materialized in front of me.

I exhaled. "I know, I just miss my _old_ team…"

"Pri!" She pointed at them – I think she did, anyways. It's hard to tell with arms so small. I looked tiredly at my team.

An eevee. A kirlia, a haunter, a buizel and monferno. And a togepi.

Coeur kept me going in the month after Lucas's death. Prom couldn't rest until he could escape his pokeball to defend us at any time. Faith chose me when she could've moved on with her dad. Def periodically checked in on my state of mind with his communication skills; Trust didn't need special skills to always be there for me.

Hope just wanted everyone to be happy – including me, though I'd done a good job of avoiding that.

 _I've been… such a fool. I've been projecting my memories onto them. Courage I assumed I already knew, so I haven't spent time with her. Promise I assumed would fight like my old water type. I didn't even try to know Trust until I knew I wasn't getting Bree. All this time they've been my team, but not my old team, and it wasn't enough._

 _I hate to give in… but they're suffering for it. My present team is here, and they're all such lovely souls, and I've neglected them for too long._

 _It's time to move on._

I picked Hope up and hugged her. "I'm sorry. I've been a fool," I said to her. "Thank you."

I finally saw. I could be happy with this team.

Also, Hope – I assumed she was an innocent child with no ulterior motives? But something* tells me she had an agenda, and that it had just made progress.

(*the fact that she then evolved)

We went down to the lakeshore so she could try out her wings. Hope flew, and we ran, and Promise shot water at her, and she and Faith giggled like maniacs, and I felt back in the game, and we didn't come back til midnight.

* * *

Thomas was asleep by the time I got back, but we went and got brunch the next morning. As it was a Wednesday, it wasn't especially busy.

"So," I said. "Oliver."

"Ah. Yep. Guess you know about him now."

"I should say so. He saved me back there."

"True. By the way, there's a proper way to say Oliver's name."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh-li-vuh," he said.

"Oll-luh-vuh," I said.

"Oh-li-vuh," he repeated.

"Oll-i-vuh?" I tried again.

"That's pretty close." He nodded seriously. I nodded seriously with him.

A few seconds later, we both burst into giggles that wouldn't go away for a full ten minutes.

"That's how you say his name," he said, taking his glasses off to wipe his eyes.

"I can't…" I was still laughing. "I can't believe…"

"That he's a wooper?"

"His name has a Kanto accent?"

There were more giggles involved.

"And that he's a wooper," I added when I could. "I've never seen a wooper fight like that, though. Does he have lightning rod? As a ground type?"

"No, he doesn't. He's just good at blocking electricity."

"Yeah, damn good at it. Wait, what do woopers normally have as an ability?"

"I don't know about normally, but Oliver's got–"

"You just said…" He'd used his normal Johto accent on Oliver's name?

"Oh, I usually just call him Oliver."

"Where'd his name come from?"

Thomas opened his mouth and closed it. "I…"

I realized what he'd done. "You _didn't_."

"Didn't what?"

"Did _April_ name them?"

"No! …well, the accent is… kind of… we were talking about it… It was a joke that kinda stuck. Half stuck."

I shook my head. "Have you talked to her since breaking up?"

"Not really?"

"How long's it been?"

"Since?"

"Since you broke up?"

"Two months and ten days," Thomas said. He was looking at me funny. Waiting to see what I'd say, I think.

"Okay," I said.

"That's it? Okay?"

"What do you want me to say? Should I state the unfair obvious?"

"What?"

"The unfair obvious."

"Meaning?"

"That if you know the days exactly then you're still hung up on it, and it's been quite a while, if you haven't spoken to her since, which is unfair because love problems are a _lot_ easier to solve in third person point of view."

Thomas leaned back. "Okay. I wasn't sure you'd understand."

"Nah, I get it. I remember how it was after Lucas was killed. And there wasn't even a chance with him."

He grimaced. "Mew, that's even worse, though."

"Hard to say. An unfulfilled chance versus no chance at all, and no point in trying."

Food arrived. I started adding sugar to my coffee, which I was once again trying to enjoy. "No point in trying…" Thomas mused. "Why does something tell me you tried anyways?"

I waved a teaspoon in the air. "We're here. Lucas is alive."

"Oh, whoa, that's true."

"Indeed." I sipped coffee sagely and tried not to spit it out. "Tricia said he's in Twinleaf, getting data at Lake Verity."

"You three split up the lakes, right?"

"Y–"

I froze with a pack of coffee creamer above the mug. I sloshed it in and said quickly, "I'll be right back."

"Where are you…?"

"I gotta call Lucas."

* * *

Here's the thing. There's three of us, three lakes, and three lake guardians. If one of the guardians appeared… what about the others?

I messaged both of them through my poketch. As I expected, Dawn hadn't yet gotten to Acuity. Lucas was willing to call via audio, over the poketch.

I dialed him. The line sounded like it picked up, but no voice came through. "Hello?" I said tentatively.

"Hey." Lucas. Oh, okay. Guess he wasn't used to poketch calls.

"Hey! You did the research at Verity already, right?"

"Yeah."

"Did… Did you see anything there? Anything out of the ordinary?"

"No."

He answered so quickly. "…you sure?" I asked again.

"Yeah."

I was going to say something else, but honestly, if he was lying, there was no way to make him tell the truth about this.

"Okay."

He didn't say anything. Here I was talking to him, with nothing to say – come on Evelyn, there's gotta be something…

"Lucas?" I said.

"Hm?"

I breathed. "Why are you mad at me?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end. "I'm not mad at you," Lucas said.

"You're not?"

"No." It's hard to be sure over a poketch, but I think his voice was gentler than before.

"Okay," I said. "Um… see you later."

"Bye," he said.

I hung up the call. Should I have talked more? No, didn't want to push it.

I went back to the café.

* * *

I was up late that night just thinking about him. Not even dreaming. Just thinking.

I actually became friends with him in late March. It was the tenth rainy day in a row and the PE teachers caved and brought us all inside and told us to pair up with someone in another class and do icebreakers. I paired off with a girl named Mei; Lucas was with Jack, someone Dawn knew.

It was random and there was no way it should have happened. But at that point in time I'd finally started seeing him around school, even though I didn't actually know him. There was zero probability of Lucas coming up to me as the pairs spread out around the gym and saying,

"I know you, but I don't know you."

I wasn't sure how to respond. Did he need a partner?

"I'm with Mei…" I said.

"I know," he said, "but I know you, and I don't know you."

It clicked. "Right?" I said. That was an _exact_ description of how I saw him. Lucas seemed really nice, and frankly he was quite cute, but I'd never spoken to him apart from the one time on New Years'. I knew him as the boy who listened when it shouldn't have mattered, whose eyes held yours when you spoke to him, and the boy I was _this_ close to crushing on.

I definitely saw it coming. We became friends, and I felt at ease around him, and we played this childish game of tag between classes with Lucas's friend Jeff and Megan and Tricia that had a no tagbacks rule, and then we both became trainers and we learned to travel and train and battle together, and we danced at the Trainer Ball and my heart was so full and we were friends.

He was kind. He was quiet most of the time, and could be very serious, but he became animated around people he knew well. He and Jeff pranked each other all the time; I remember once Lucas stole Jeff's pen and tucked it behind his ear, and Jeff pulled apart both his backpack and Lucas's trying to find it, me and Lucas holding back laughter the whole time. Funny little stupid things that were amplified by the fact that I liked him.

And he _listened_. He listened at the party, when it was too loud and what I said wasn't important. He listened whenever I had a whispered side comment in class. When I spoke too fast, my parents and most of the people I knew made a big deal of it. Sometimes even Megan and Tricia poked fun at it. I remember one time in chemistry, Megan told me I talked too fast – never heard that before – and I refused to talk to her for the rest of the day. You know the saying – those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind. I let Megan and Tricia get away with it, because they didn't _really_ mind, but… still.

Lucas Tristan, who I knew but didn't know, would tilt his head forward and lift his eyebrows almost imperceptibly, his expression open to ask what I said without making a big deal of it. Gently. Kindly.

This was just how he was.

Oh, there was one time – I smiled a bit, now – when we were packing up at the end of class, and I said something, and he said "What?"

I started to repeat my words–

"WAAT?"

I froze. His eyebrows were raised playfully. I didn't know what to do, but then his face softened and he said "What?" normally, like I knew he would. Like he always did.

I sighed and rolled over. I was finally getting sleepy.

Kind like he always was. After all that happened, he was still Lucas.

 _And we'll be okay_ , I thought, drifting off.

* * *

 **CHEMISTRY PSA: Induction in an acid/base problem pulls the _electrons_ closer, not the entire hydrogen atom. More induction means the molecule is more acidic. **

**This has been a PSA to prevent you from fucking up in front of the cute guy in your CS class, yw**

 **(he was rly nice tho he was like oh you're probably ok tho)**

 **(ahhh)**


	33. Definite

***sprints into the room after a two month absence***

 **HI I'M HERE SORRY LET'S GO**

 **Reminder that Courage's nickname is Coeur, in case you forgot. Also, Definite is Def, and Promise is Prom.  
**

 **Also, shoutout to my friend who's been helping me with all of the French in this story. Love you~**

 **Aight, let's go.**

* * *

I held my breath. " _It will be all right_ ," Def reassured me.

" _I know. Just go for it_."

I felt the swoop of teleportation – and opened my eyes in Hearthome. Def's first long-distance jump had gone without a hitch.

" _How do you feel?_ " I asked him.

" _Fine_ ," he said, though he looked a little gray (yes, even for a kirlia).

" _Let's rest you up just in case. Then we'll go to the gym._ "

We went ahead and got lunch in the Pokemon Center. Def stayed at my side while the others fooled around. I kept an eye on them, making sure they didn't hurt any furniture or themselves before the battle.

" _Hey Def?_ "

" _Oui?_ "

" _Have you given any thought into evolution?_ "

" _I just evolved…?_ "

" _Oh. Sorry, yeah, I know. I meant the next stage. I'm just trying to plan ahead, because your natural evolution could come around anytime._ "

" _Ah._ " He paused.

" _If you don't know, it's no big deal_ ," I let him know.

Def sighed. " _Je sais. I would like…_ " Once again he hesitated.

" _What makes you pause?_ "

He looked at the trees. " _In the community, there is a… comment dit-on… push? Les garçons are expected to be gallades, but the push is to change this expectation. Les filles are even looking for a way to be gallades._ "

" _So you want to defy the norms?_ "

Definite looked unsure. " _I want to support this push. Mais je veux devenir un gallade._ "

I could guess what that meant.

I thought about it while staring at the trees with him. It wasn't super windy, but the branches swayed in the breeze, raining soft orange leaves. Gingko trees.

" _I think… you should do what you want for yourself_ ," I said. _"Becoming a gardevoir when you don't want to would just be giving in to a different kind of expectation. You should do what makes you happy._ "

Def nodded and closed his eyes. " _Evelyn?_ " he said.

" _Yeah?_ " I said.

He only hesitated a little before saying, " _Je veux devenir un gallade._ "

" _Okay. I'll start looking for dawn stones. Let me know when you're ready_."

" _Merci_."

" _Anytime_."

* * *

"This battle is a continuous three-on-three match between the gym leader, Fantina, and the challenger, Evelyn Meyers from Twinleaf Town. Only the challenger may make substitutions. The battle ends when all three of one trainer's pokemon are knocked out. Battlers, are you ready?"

"Mais oui."

I breathed. _We can do this_.

"Ready," I said.

"Battle… begin!"

"Gengar!"

"Def, go!"

"Confuse ray!"

" _Double team, teleport, and use confusion when you can_ ," I told him silently.

Def made copies twice, so that in a few moments there were more than twenty kirlias around the room. The copies – and the real Def – appeared to teleport from point to point around Fantina's gengar.

* * *

It was a simple maneuver we'd worked on the day before. Def took a few copies away and replaced a few at the same time. It was like hide and seek, with Courage and Faith and Hope running around and working together to find the real one.

* * *

One kirlia's eyes would glow pink, and Gengar would cringe under the psychic attack, but the kirlia would disappear before Gengar could target him.

"Très bien!" Fantina exclaimed at the spectacle of kirlias dancing in and out of being around her pokemon. "Zis is the art of pokemon battles! I so hate to cut zis short. Spite!"

Gengar's eyes glowed red. A brief ripple of crimson sped through the air, though the kirlias. I tensed, looking for the move that had been cut–

The number of kirlias dropped suddenly. " _Def, keep the copies. Double team's been cut_ ," I said. " _You can use them as shields. Confusion._ "

Def hit the gengar with his biggest psychic attack yet, making her sink down. She was barely standing.

" _Last one!_ " I said.

"Spite!" Fantina told her gengar.

A crimson ripple sped through Def again, right before he attacked. Shoot, that was his only attack move–

" _Def, think really hard about trees._ "

" _Quoi?_ "

"Gengar, shadow claw!"

" _Teleport_. _Keep thinking. Plants. Grass energy._ "

The first shadow claw swing was at a copy, which vanished. The second swing Def teleported away from. The third was a mass erasure of double team copies, until it was just Gengar and Def still standing.

Gengar grinned and advanced on him. Def teleported a little to the side, but Gengar swiped with her other hand, slicing Def across the chest.

" _Def, magical leaf!_ "

It was shaky at first, but leaves appeared out of the air and traveled over to Gengar. It wasn't _very_ effective, especially as Gengar was a poison type, but the second hit was stronger, and the third a little better than that.

"Shadow claw!"

" _Magical leaf!_ "

Gengar lunged, and Def did his best to blast her in the face with leaves. She came down and swiped across his face, but the leaves were enough to push her over the edge of consciousness.

"Gengar is unable to battle!"

"Def, return," I said out loud. " _Well done._ "

" _Merci beaucoup._ "

"Drifblim, assiste moi!"

"Faith, it's yours!"

" _Evelyn_."

" _Yeah?_ "

" _I can pass on your words._ "

" _Oh, that would be lovely._ _Faith, confuse ray, hypnosis_."

* * *

Back at the Lake Resort, I finally figured out how to battle with Faith. Thomas was simultaneously training with his pokemon, but he was distracted by our battle.

"Faith, confuse ray!"

She let out a little light. Twinkling and wobbling slowly, it made its way over to Trust. Trust was unfazed as he watched it shakily make its way past him. Right when it got past, it suddenly shot straight into him. Faith giggled.

"Oak," she said. Trust looked bewildered, and he looked up right at Thomas.

"Mooooon… FERNOOOO!"

He blasted Thomas with fire.

It was an exciting several minutes, in which Prom came out to fend off the confused Trust, Faith tried to help and confused Prom too, and Oliver doused Thomas with water. At the end of it, Trust had come back to his senses and Thomas's blue and gray sweatshirt was a charred, drenched mass on the ground.

"I'm sorry about your sweatshirt," I said. "I can pay for a new one."

He shrugged. "It's no big deal. It happens."

His t-shirt was fine, though soaked. He went to go dry off. I turned back to my pokemon. "How about a break?" I said.

* * *

The little light twinkled drunkenly off to the side. Fantina and Drifblim appeared unimpressed until it rocketed straight into Drifblim from a few feet away.

"Mon Dieu!" Fantina exclaimed.

" _Nice!_ " I said. " _Now go with nightshade!_ "

Drifblim floundered and blew a gust of air in the direction of not-Faith. Faith got a few hits in before the drifblim's attack got a little too close for comfort.

" _Hypnosis!_ "

"Minimize!"

Drifblim shrank significantly in a small amount of time, escaping Faith's gold rings in the process. " _That's fine, use nightshade_ ," I said to her.

"Drifblim, ominous wind!"

Drifblim spun – the ominous wind shot out in all directions, virtually unavoidable. It barreled through Faith, stopping her attack.

" _Faith, go up_!"

She rose in the air, but Drifblim spun in a more complicated rotation and let out an ominous wind in more directions, including up at Faith. Faith looked a little battered, but I realized that Fantina's drifblim had sort of wandered into her own attack, in her confusion. We were almost there.

" _One more time! Nightshade!_ "

Faith blasted Drifblim with dark crimson energy from above, knocking her into the ground. That was all it took.

"Drifblim is unable to battle!"

I took a deep breath. "Thanks, Faith," I said, drawing her back.

At this point, things were looking good…? I didn't want to get overconfident, but while Def was probably done fighting, Faith was in fairly good shape and I still had one more to go. I wanted my third pokemon to get a shot at battling.

"Coeur, it's yours!" I said, releasing my final pick.

Fantina raised her eyebrows at the sight of my eevee, a normal type in a ghost gym. "Interesting… Mismagius, allons-y! Use confuse ray!"

"Dodge, and… I mean–" Oops, I went verbal. " _Dodge, and use sand attack._ "

Mismagius's confuse ray missed, as did Coeur's sand attack. "Oh, you are speaking…" Fantina trailed off. I did not like the look on her face.

"Magirêve! Entoure-la avec des feuilles!"

Shit.

Wait.

" _Def, what did she say?_ "

" _Quoi? She is speaking your language, oui?_ "

Human language, right.

Mismagius was shooting off magical leaves in random directions, none of which were hitting Coeur, but rather missing her by a little and coming back around to miss her by a little again?

" _Rephrase, please?_ "

" _Uh… Encircle-la avec des leaves?_ "

Encircle. " _Coeur, she's trying to surround you. Get out of the leaves with quick attack!_ "

"Avec beaucoup des onde folies!"

" _Def?_ "

" _Attaque-la with many onde folies_."

" _What?_ "

Coeur darted out of the leafiest area, but found herself right in front of Mismagius and too many confuse rays. She sped out of there, but not before one hit.

" _Courage!_ "

"Ah, très bien! And now, des feuilles!"

The magical leaves that had been left swirling off to the side now came in full force at Courage.

" _Coeur, get out of there!_ " I tried to say. She stumbled in circles, not sure which way to go. The magical leaves tore at her fur and face and pushed her over.

When all the leaves had been used up, Coeur was in bad shape. She looked dizzy and unsure.

" _It's okay, Coeur._ " I was trying to think – quick attack and tackle were ineffective, and almost more so due to her confusion. Sand attack was just that. Shadow ball was good, but if they hit Coeur–

OH. If they hit Coeur they'd _literally do nothing_.

" _Shadow balls! Everywhere!_ "

* * *

Thomas and I had our first real battle the day before. It was only one on one because I was _convinced_ he was a halfway decent trainer, but I was wrong.

…haha just kidding that's me being shady. What actually happened was I sent out Courage against Cassie, his quilava. It was a decently long battle, and in the end, Coeur and I had worked something out.

It was like the way Faith used confuse ray. Many shadow balls used in such a way that they're really not a threat. And then we figured out how to send them all at the opponent in a short amount of time. We actually managed to beat Cassie.

The only problem now was the confusion, since the sending-them-all-at-the-opponent part required a lot of precision.

* * *

Coeur charged one up and sent it flying. It wobbled like one of Faith's confuse rays, slowly heading out in an arbitrary direction. She formed another. And another. Mismagius didn't have to dodge anything, but pretty soon there were balls of ghost energy all around. Coeur got close to stumbling into a few slow ones, but of course this was of no concern.

And I'm not sure what it was – a hunch, maybe something in her manner, maybe the special trainer-pokemon connection forming – but something about Coeur changed, and I knew what it was without needing Def to tell me.

" _The confusion wore off_ ," Def said anyways.

I smiled. "Coeur! Like we practiced!" I said out loud, knowing Fantina couldn't translate that.

Coeur sprang into action. Quick attack to a shadow ball, create a new shadow ball behind it, shoot both forward. Repeat. Mismagius attempted to dodge once she figured out what was going on, but then Coeur was at the next shadow ball somewhere else and Mismagius didn't know where to go.

"Encore, entoure-la avec des feuillemagik!"

" _Again, encircle-la avec des feuillemagik_ ," Def said.

The leaves chased Coeur around the stadium. She skidded to a halt as they passed her and changed their paths to circle her. Coeur stood in the middle of an effective magical leaf tornado.

"Par-derrière!"

" _From behind_."

" _Shadow ball behind you!_ "

It was hard to see what happened, but there was a weird sort of non-explosion. The leaves thinned out, and it became clearer: the magical leaves were being absorbed by the shadow ball. Coeur was shaking to contain it. This would be pushing it.

" _I believe in you! Quick attack!_ "

Coeur lunged. Her ball of ghost and leaf energy led her charge into Mismagius. The overfilled ball immediately exploded in a burst of light and dust, the biggest I'd seen since before September. I covered my eyes.

When the dust cleared, both pokemon were down.

"The match ends in a draw. The victory goes to Evelyn, of Twinleaf Town!"

" _Definite, merci beaucoup_."

" _You're welcome._ "

I ran over to Coeur. "Courage, we did it!" I said. "I'm so proud of you!"

Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled before going back to sleep.

* * *

While my three victorious battlers were healing, I received a message on my poketch.

 _Want to vidcall? :)_

From Megan. I hadn't talked to her since she visited Hearthome.

"Hey."

"Hey! How's it going?"

"Pretty well. Just beat Fantina."

"Nice! Second try?"

"Yeah." I realized there were things she didn't know. "By the way. Stuff happened."

"Oh?"

Told her about Lake Valor and Azelf. I omitted a few details, like Oliver, since he was supposed to be Thomas's secret.

"Azelf… why?"

"I don't know. I asked Lucas if he saw anything out of the ordinary at Lake Verity, but he said no."

"Hm… Oh, you talked to him? Are things going better?"

I gave a wild shrug. "I don't know? He… I asked if he was mad at me, and he said no?"

"Well, if that's true, then maybe you have nothing to worry about."

"Maybe." I shook my head. "Enough about my boy problem. What about you? Anything happening?"

"In terms of boys? None of the guys at Twinleaf High are worth it."

A cheeky little voice in the back of my head told me to ask about the girls.

 _Shut the fuck up_ , I told it.

"Lucas is from Twinleaf."

Megan shrugged. "Mehh. Not my type, and he's taken," she said, grinning.

 _Ask her what her type is_ , said the voice.

 _Fuck off_ , I thought.

"He's only taken if I can befriend him again, and then get him to like me," I said.

"Don't stress yourself too much. As long as you're friends, he's bound to fall for you," said Megan.

"What? How?"

"How could he not?" she said. "You're amazing."

 _DID YOU HEAR THA–_

 _I HEARD HER GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HEAD_

"Aw, thanks," I said, trying not to turn bright fucking red.

 _It's just your best friend giving you a compliment calm the fuck down._

The rest of the conversation was smoother. We talked about classes. I wished her luck on her bio test.

"Not that you need it," I added.

Megan smiled. "Thanks."

We hung up. I took a deep breath.

That wasn't so bad.

…who am I kidding.

* * *

 **Definite's dilemma early in the chapter is a metaphor for college majors lol (#womeninstem #humanitiesmajoratheart #cries)**

 **Mmmmm yeah. Summer has arrived and my plan is to write everything, so expect actual Chance updates finally :)**

 **Side note, if you like Miraculous Ladybug (I think it's called Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir but who has time for that), I've got a side project going right now based on that. Check it out.**

 **Aight, see you next time (hopefully soon).**


	34. Lake Acuity

**I finally got around to making reference pages for all the chapters (i.e. lists of characters/team members), which are posted on my profile. There's one for the beginning of every chapter lol. It'll take you to deviantArt, don't be alarmed.  
**

 **Leggo leggo.**

* * *

So here's what information I gathered from the newspapers in Pastoria City's Pokemon Center.

Shaymin typically reside on an island north of the Pokemon League, on the edge of the space considered the Sinnoh region. On Thursday, a few scientists went up from Sunyshore City to take data on the population, but came back early. They said they had been attacked by the shaymin, which is literally unheard of. If there was ever a pacifist pokemon, it's shaymin.

There were a number of speculations outlined in the article I found, but one stood out: the shaymin colony had been attacked by humans, and became defensive the next time humans showed up. Volkner was investigating.

Darkrai and Cresselia were not mentioned anywhere in the stacks of newspapers, but I knew from experience (still no mention of a pokedex theft) that Galactic wasn't always consistent.

In other news, Floaroma Town had a power outage on Wednesday that lasted a full 24 hours. Even for a small town, that was a good amount of electricity unaccounted for.

* * *

Thomas and his snazzy new blue hoodie accompanied me to dinner at a Johtoan food place in Pastoria. He was pretty chill in the beginning, but when the food actually arrived and he tried it, he was stunned speechless.

"Is this a good silence?"

"It's _authentic_ ," he said in awe.

"Were you expecting it to be fake? We have places that sell fake Johto food if you would rather–"

"I'm good, thanks."

Sometime mid-meal he cleared his throat like he had something to say. "So… This has just been bothering me a while," he said.

I narrowed my eyes. "What is it?"

"This whole Galactic thing… Why doesn't Looker – that's his name, right?"

"Right."

"Why doesn't he just talk to the Pokemon League? Can't they help out?"

I snorted, because I knew this answer too well. "The IP is a piece of shit. They – well, okay. The official reason is that they go for the trust-no-one approach. In practice, they're okay with nobody trainers – c'est moi – helping out, but once it gets to be higher-profile trainers, the IP starts looking like it can't do anything without help."

Thomas frowned. "So… It's okay that Looker is getting the help of three novice trainers, but if he got a gym leader…?"

"He'd definitely get fired."

"It would be so much more efficient though. And why does he need novice trainers to help him at all?"

"IP agents aren't really supposed to carry pokemon."

Thomas looked dumbstruck.

"…there was this big thing a while back, I think in Unova? Unova makes sense. They had a problem with police taking things too far, and they banned them from training pokemon. It spread from there. Real problem, iffy solution."

"Very iffy, if that means the IP needs to employ amateurs–"

"Okay, _chill_ , I'm one of those amateurs."

Thomas held his hands up. "Well, you were, back when you first met Looker."

Fair enough. "Okay. You were saying."

"It's so dumb…"

"I know. But I want Looker to keep his job. So."

* * *

 _I pulled my sodden coat tighter around me and pushed ahead through the snow. It's not like I'd come unprepared, but several days in a blizzard wipe out your preparations rather quickly._

 _Completely fruitless days in a blizzard. Upon arrival, I'd gone directly to the cavern in the center of the lake, expecting any answers I might have needed to be there. Not so. The rest of my time had been spent walking the perimeter of the lake, looking for further clues. This would not have taken nearly as long if not for the raging storm and knee-high snow. Waist high, in some parts._

 _The library in Snowpoint City was remarkably unhelpful. I was hoping for mythology notes addressing this lake and Spear Pillar, and I attained little other than the same passages, over and over. These affirmed what I already knew, but otherwise were little help. So I came here._

 _On most days, I stopped at nightfall. Today, I was losing hope, and by midnight I was still walking, flashlight out to see a little bit better in the snow. There had to be something. Anything. I didn't know what I was looking for, and yet anything would have been better than what I had now._

 _I stopped in my tracks. A signpost. Oh no._

 _I fought my way through the snow to reach the sign. Brushing frost from the surface, I felt my heart sink._

 _LAKE ACUITY  
ELEV. 673 FT._

 _It was the sign I'd seen when I first arrived. I had come full circle._

 _That couldn't be right. I needed answers. This was my last resort. I'd reached my wit's end. I hated being in the dark. I was out of ideas. I just–_

 _"_ _I need to know," I whispered._

 _Then, louder, since no one would hear me._

 _"_ _I NEED TO KNOW!" I shouted, voice hoarse._

 _Miraculously, someone heard. A warm gold flush washed over the frozen lake._

* * *

"Are you okay?" Thomas said for the thousandth time that day.

I put down my glass of oran berry juice. "Yes? Why do you keep asking me? And why are you looking at me like that?"

He was taken aback for a moment. Then his posture softened. "You were sleeptalking last night."

Oh. "I do that sometimes," I said, shrugging. "You've heard me before."

"Not like this. You screamed something about needing to know, and then carried on sleeping like nothing happened."

"Needing to know what?"

"I dunno. You just said, 'I need to know.'"

I'd momentarily forgotten what happened the night before, but it suddenly rushed back. "OH. RIGHT."

"Did something happen?"

"I… It was really weird. I dreamed I was at Lake Acuity… looking for something. Information. And then I didn't find what I was looking for, but then…"

I locked eyes with Thomas. He was listening.

"…the lake turned gold… like it did when Azelf appeared to me… and…" I shook my head. "That's all I remember."

"Do you think something happened?" Thomas asked.

I mean, there was something odd about it. The weirdly complete amount of backstory, for example. And it was so vivid – I was still a little chilly. And I wasn't myself in this dream – which happens sometimes, but not like this. It's like I was–

"I think," I said slowly, "this happened to Looker."

* * *

Looker was available to chat over poketch, but not in person. I called him in the Pokemon Center.

"Hello, Lyn," he said when he picked up.

"Hey. What are you up to?"

"Recovering from hypothermia. You?"

"Digesting breakfast. What happened last night?"

There was a pause. "What?"

"Did something happen last night?"

"Er, yes, but what makes you think that?"

"Tell me what happened first."

"I was looking for information up at Lake Acuity. You said you'd found willpower at Lake Valor–"

"I mean, that's not exactly it."

"All right, but I was out of ideas, so I went to Lake Acuity for knowledge." He sounded a little ashamed. "Sorry, it sounds a little silly."

"Nah. Desperate times, desperate measures. Then what?"

"Last night I came full circle with nothing, and Uxie appeared."

"Okay. I had a dream last night that was exactly that."

"You what?"

"I dreamed I was you, walking through the snow at Lake Acuity."

"That's… interesting. Hm."

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Interestingly, yes. Not exactly in the way I was expecting, but we'll get to that later. I've got places to go, first."

"Is there anything I should know now?"

"Now?" Looker paused to think. "You remember how the recording you took said any pokemon could speed up the Red Chain creation?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't know what the seller was playing at, but that's not exactly it. Galactic needs several other pokemon still, but not for this reason."

"Darn, so my recording was a red herring…"

"It pulled our attention to the minor legendary pokemon that went missing previously. It wasn't useless."

"Okay. Anything else?"

"I'll save that for later."

"All right."

There was a pause.

"Looker?"

"Yes?"

"Was there something… anything strange about the encounter?"

"What do you mean?"

"Anything besides just Uxie giving you what you needed."

Because there was something strange about my encounter with Azelf. It didn't feel like he'd popped up just to encourage me. There was something else.

"Maybe. The fact that you saw it might mean something."

"Yeah…" I exhaled. "It would be nice to know what's going on."

Looker laughed. "You're telling me? Anyways, I think we'll know soon."

* * *

The Pastoria City Gym was an easy battle last time around, as I had a highly aggressive electric type on my team. With Liana gone, I was looking for new advantages.

Trust was 9001% out of the question, with his double type disadvantage (not to mention bonus disadvantages towards the secondary types of both Gyarados and Quagsire. Wonderful). I was leaning towards Definite, partly because he knew magical leaf, but mostly because he knew teleport. Promise was in the lineup because A) he knew the water well, and B) I can't just _not battle_ with my water type at the one gym with a pool. That left either Faith, Courage, or the one pokemon who had never battled.

"Prrrrri~" Hope chirped, flying higher.

"Wait, Hope, come back–"

Thomas had agreed to have a very, _very_ chill battle with me, in which I was trying to acquaint Hope with the all-around idea of a pokemon battle. This was going fantastically.

"I mean, at least she probably won't get hit up there," Thomas said helpfully.

"Yeah, and neither will Swaine," I said, glancing at his sandslash.

"Well, who knows? Maybe Hope is secretly a sniper."

"She's barely a month old."

We watched her fly around up there.

"At least she's enjoying herself."

* * *

It came to me at half-past 11 or so.

I scrambled out of bed and pulled on my jacket. Thomas rolled over to look at me.

"Where are you going?" he mumbled, half asleep.

"Pokemart. I'll be right back," I said, pulling Trust into his pokeball.

"Wh–"

I was already out the door. The Pokemart closes at midnight. It wasn't _really_ an urgent need, but I knew I wouldn't be able to rest until I had the TM.

Pastoria's Pokemart is on the far side of town. It was foggy out and badly lit – part of Pastoria trying to preserve its natural habitats includes having incredibly dim streetlights – so I brought Trust out. He was a _little_ big to ride my shoulder, but we hadn't done this in a while so we went for it.

The Pokemart was empty except for one bored-looking employee standing at the cash register. I recalled Trust and went up to the counter.

"Hi! I'd like to purchase a shock wave TM," I said.

The employee went to the back to find it. The door jingled; I looked over and saw a young woman and an ivysaur walk in. We smiled politely at each other and looked away.

I remember standing there a few more moments, waiting for the store employee to come back with my TM. The next thing I remember is lying on the ground outside, Thomas and his ampharos leaning over me.

"Are you okay?" said Thomas.

"…the fuck happened?"

"I'm thinking sleep powder. There was an ivysaur carrying you. The lady ran once Esther defeated the ivysaur."

Something didn't line up. I sat up, head spinning a little. "What about Trust?" I wondered.

He was in his pokeball. The moment I released him, he burst into monkey chatter.

"Wait, hang on, let me contact Def," I said to him.

"Mooooooon," he anguished, hugging me around the waist.

I patted his head. " _Def?_ " I reached out.

" _Oui?_ " Even in my head he sounded sleepy.

" _Sorry for waking you. Trust is–_ "

" _Ah, I hear him. He could not escape._ "

"You couldn't get out of your pokeball?" I asked Trust. He nodded with his face in my side. "You've never had trouble before…"

"Mon."

" _He felt locked inside_."

"Locked inside…" I thought of the woman. "Maybe she had something to do with it?"

"Mon." Trust nodded again.

"Do you know what it was?"

"Mon." Trust shook his head.

"Well… okay. This is an exciting development."

The Pokemart had almost closed, but the employee still had the TM with him, so I quickly purchased it and headed out. Thomas walked back to the pokemon center with me. He hadn't even taken the time to put on a jacket.

"Thomas?"

"Hm?"

"Thanks." I didn't look at him.

"Sure."


	35. Information

**So I guess links to the reference pages aren't working bc fanfiction dot net is a kind and trusting website. They're all on my deviantArt though, so if you want to see them, find me at username LeikoTanaka6 on deviantArt and go to Journals. There should be a list of links there.**

 **On with the show~**

* * *

Did I mention this was the week of the Valor Resort Tournament?

Most tournaments, apart from the Sinnoh League itself and a few others, are separated by badge level. Depending on participation, this could be anywhere between 2 and 8 divisions. Valor Resort was a 4-division tournament. I wasn't sure how many badges Dawn and Lucas each had, but there was a 50-50 chance they would end up in the 3-4 badge range.

(Dawn and Lucas came to Valor for the tournament last year. I was guessing they'd do so again.)

Thomas happened to have four badges, same as me, so I forced him to run up to Veilstone and get a fifth. "Are you sure you'll be okay?" he said.

I glared at him.

"…that's fair."

I smiled brightly. "I'm not letting you compete in the three-and-four badge division when you've been training for so long."

"Time doesn't mean skill."

I pushed him in the direction of Veilstone. "Bye now."

As for me… Well, there was lots to do. I stayed in crowded places and kept a pokemon out at all times. When we left the city to train, Prom and I were constantly on the lookout. Noises coming from behind us made both of us jump.

For the next week, I focused on training with Trust, Courage, and Hope. Strength conditioning, agility, and… whatever Hope was doing.

"Hope, the battle's down here," I said desperately. She was too high in the air again, and Coeur – who was supposed to be dodging – was sitting in the grass licking her fur.

I'd taught Hope shock wave with the TM, so she could in theory hit her opponent. The problem was, she wasn't even trying.

" _Can she hear you?_ " Def wondered.

" _Dunno. Try talking to her_ ," I said.

He looked up into the sky. A few moments later, I heard, " _This may take a while_."

Apparently I hadn't properly explained battling to Hope – or, at any rate, she didn't really get it. Def tried for a bit, and then we brought Hope down so we could all teach her how to battle. Prom did a short demo of physical fighting, Coeur of dodging, Def of special attacking. Faith was having a literal field day with the marsh plants ("Pickleweed!" "Yes, Faith, I see." "Bullrush!"), so I let her be.

Hope agreed to have a mock battle with Trust, but the first hit – keeping in mind he was 100% going easy on her – with his first hit, she squealed and rocketed into the sky as fast as her little wings would take her.

"Hmmm…" I watched her hover. I had never gotten around to doing damage training with them – I mean, let's get real a sec. It's literally training pokemon to handle pain. Pokemon rights activists call it pokemon torture, and there's really not a lot of great counterarguments to that besides "but the pokemon are okay with it."

I did damage training with Liana and Quasar, because I knew they could handle it, but I hated it in general and had been putting it off with this team. And judging by Hope's reaction to one hit, now didn't seem like the time to start.

At this point, I decided to break the problem down into a level of foolishness. Hope doesn't like getting hit. Solution: don't let her get hit.

Watching her soar high in the air, I laughed to myself. "The fools _are_ the wisest, in Shakespeare."

So we taught her to dodge. Or, more accurately, she knew how to dodge; we just helped her practice. It was a game – first a game of try-to-barely-miss-her-with-a-move, then as we became more confident in her abilities, a game of just-go-ahead-and-try-to-hit-her.

From there, actual battling was just a matter of adding in a few moves. Def helped her out with magical leaf; I worked with her on swift, to round out the moveset a little.

"That's good, Hope! Let's call it a day!" I called up to her.

She swooped down. I didn't realize she was going to tackle me until it was too late.

"Oof… I love you too, Hope," I said, patting her on the back.

My other pokemon took this as an invitation for a group hug. Cute.

* * *

Tuesday, November second: Looker teleported me to Celestic Town to chat. He looked much better than when I saw him last, like he'd finally gotten some sleep.

"So when I saw Uxie," he explained as we walked somewhere, "he didn't exactly give me the information I was looking for. Not directly, at least. Instead, he gave me a location and two people."

"Celestic, I assume?"

"Yeah."

"Who are the people?"

"…That's where it gets complicated. One of them is in the Pokemon League. But the other lives here. You've met her before."

We stopped at a cottage. He knocked on the door. In a moment, a woman with gray hair opened it.

"Oh, it's you again," she said.

"Professor Carolina, right?" I asked.

"Yes, yes. Come inside."

The professor led us to the room we'd convened in last time, back when we went to rescue the orbs from the museum. Back when I was on better terms with Lucas. I sighed a little.

"Something wrong?"

"Oh, no, nothing."

The professor took a seat on an armchair; Looker and I took the sofa. "Quite frankly, my granddaughter is the expert on mythology. I'm more of the archaeology expert."

"That's all right," Looker said quickly. "We don't want to trouble your granddaughter."

"Didn't think twice about troubling me," she grumbled.

"At any rate, thank you for agreeing to meet with us," said Looker.

"Don't mention it. What do you want to know?"

"Let's start with Spear Pillar," Looker said. "What would be required to summon Dialga and Palkia there?"

Professor Carolina snorted. "You'd need to open it, first."

"Open…"

"Open Spear Pillar. It's been sealed off since ancient times."

"How would you open it?" I asked.

"The Spear Key. It's an artifact that's been lost for centuries. Ancient texts say it's in a sacred place, but that could be anywhere. Iron Island ruins, Snowpoint Temple, Foreign Cultures Building, Solaceon Ruins, the Lost Tower… Hard to say. And of course all of these places have been scanned to death."

"Okay… Well, if Galactic obtained the key–" Looker glanced at me, because of course someone had obtained the key before. "–what else would be needed to… say, summon the beasts?"

"Oh, the orbs for sure. And I think the Lake Trio."

"The Lake Trio?" I cut in. "The pokemon themselves? Not just the Red Chain?"

Carolina glared at me. "I know what I'm talking about, child."

"I'm not… Okay, anything else?"

"The Red Chain would be helpful. To control the pokemon. I know it's based on the Lake Trio, but the creators of Spear Pillar only meant to summon Dialga and Palkia, not to hold them hostage."

"Okay… so we've got the Lake Trio, the Red Chain, Spear Key, and the orbs," Looker summarized. "How could the Red Chain be created without the presence of the Lake Trio?"

"That's not so hard. It's just a compound that doesn't occur naturally on earth. I imagine once the chemical compound is figured out – most likely they'd look into meteorites – it wouldn't be so difficult to synthesize."

"No wonder they have a location in Veilstone," Looker mused. "For the Lake Trio, apparently Galactic plans to cause a ruckus at one lake to draw out all three pokemon?"

Carolina shook her head. "Out of my scope. The Lake Trio is almost entirely myth-based. My granddaughter can help you there."

"But surely you–" Looker began.

"I have told you," Carolina raised her voice, "what I _know_. If you have no further questions I can answer, I have no further time to spare."

As it turned out, she had no further time to spare. At least not for now. Looker and I took a walk around Celestic Town.

"So… what now?" I said.

He sighed. "Well… We do know quite a bit. Maybe it's good enough to say we stop Galactic from creating the bomb, so they never get to the Lake Trio."

"You don't really think so," I said. It wasn't a question.

Looker shook his head. "We're missing so much still. Just think – if we knew where the Spear Key was, we could protect it from Galactic and lock them out of Spear Pillar. And… other things."

We looked out over the town. From where we stood, we could see the ruins. I hadn't been inside recently, but I knew the back wall of the caves told of how Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie could meet at Spear Pillar to summon a member – or members, if Galactic succeeded – of the Creation Trio.

"What do you think it means," I said, "that Azelf and Uxie appeared to us?"

"I can only guess," Looker admitted. With a huff, he said, "All right. I guess we need to see her granddaughter."

"She's the one who's part of the Sinnoh League?"

"Worse. She's the Sinnoh League Champion."

* * *

Two days later, trainers began to arrive at Lake Valor for the tournament. I sent messages to Dawn, Lucas, and Thomas on my poketch saying we could share a room (things get crowded during tournaments, so I hoped Lucas didn't mind too much).

Dawn arrived while I was settling in. "Oh, hey," I said, closing Looker's diary. I was trying to write down the details we'd learned, to sort of organize the information.

"Hey," she said. "Long time no see."

"Oh yeah," I said, trying to remember when I'd last seen her. Stark Mountain? "It's been a good, what, two or three weeks?"

"Think so, yeah. What's new?" Dawn asked, setting her bag on the ground.

"Mm, not much… I managed to get a Hearthome badge," I said.

"Ah, man," she groaned. "I hear Fantina's one of the hardest to beat."

"She can be. It's nice getting her out of the way, before I have to fight stronger teams."

"Mm, I suppose so. I defeated Candice while I was up in Snowpoint."

"Oh, nice. You have… a fire type…" I frowned. Were all the rest of her pokemon weak to ice?

She giggled. "I fought with Alan, Kenna, and Elliot. Fire, water-steel, and… Have you met my electabuzz? I picked him up sort of on the way here."

"I haven't yet. Have you met all of my team?"

I introduced her to Coeur, the one pokemon she hadn't met. It occurred to me that we had six pokemon each – full teams, and if we were to take our rivalry seriously, time to strategize against that team.

We socialized for a little longer, but it was clear that we both really wanted to get some last minute tournament prep in. I spent the rest of the afternoon doing lightweight target practice, evasion skills, working just a little more with Trust on focus punch. I wasn't sure he was ready to use it in battle, but it was a possibility.

When I returned, Dawn was sitting on a top bunk. Lucas's bag hung from the end of the other top bed.

"He's here?" I asked her.

"Yeah. He's downstairs somewhere."

"I guess you guys caught up already?"

"Yeah. His grotle and houndour evolved, by the way. And he has a riolu."

"Oh. Thanks." Nice of her. "Do you know his badge count, by the way?"

"Four, like us," she said, grinning.

"Whew. We're not behind," I said with a laugh.

I took the bottom bunk below Dawn and pulled out the Pokemon Center clothes I borrowed, preparing for a shower. "Hey Dawn?" I said suddenly.

"Hm?"

"You checked out Lake Acuity, right?"

"Yeah. Took a while to get there, cause I had to wait out the blizzard."

"Did you find anything unusual?"

"Not really. Why? Did you?"

"Nah." I hadn't really expected her to say yes, since Looker had seen Uxie already.

Later that night, I went downstairs to hang out in the Pokemon Center lobby. Thomas hadn't arrived yet, but mostly I was hoping to run into Lucas.

Trust was out. I didn't expect to get attacked when there were so many trainers nearby, but I liked having him around.

"Ready for the tournament?" I asked him.

"Mon," he said with a cheery nod. "Moh?" he asked, pointing at me.

"I sure hope so," I said, chuckling nervously. "There's a chance we'll go up against Lucas and Dawn. That'll be exciting. Hopefully it's not too early on. I don't want us to knock each other out all at once."

Trust nodded. The doors to the Pokemon Center slid open. I looked up; Thomas had arrived.

"What division are you competing in?" I asked him immediately.

He stopped and put his hands on his hips. "I feel so welcomed," he said.

I raised my eyebrows.

Thomas dropped his hands and sighed. "I'm in the 5 and 6 badge division," he said.

I grinned and stood up. "Welcome back," I said, taking him to our room.

* * *

Round one. I was facing off against some girl from Sandgem Town. 3-badge trainer.

I inhaled and exhaled deeply. The green room was occupied by a few other trainers, either recovering emotionally from their last battles or preparing for a battle later than mine. I hoped I wasn't forgetting anything.

First tournament battle of the year. Highkey sets the tone.

I rummaged through my bag again, checking to see if I'd missed anything. My hand bumped into a small box at the bottom. Megan's gift.

I pulled the necklace out and went over to the mirrors along one wall. _For good luck_ , I thought, fastening it around my neck.

Someone poked their head into the room. "Next up, Evelyn Meyers. On deck, Axel Tokuyama."

I made eye contact with myself in the mirror. A little grin nudged the corner of my mouth.

Showtime.

* * *

 **Tournament season = I finally get to give names to throwaway characters :D**

 **Axel is the name of the person who got me started on fanfic dot net/writing online in general, so he had to be first.**

 **VALOR TOURNAMENT HYPE HYPE WOOOOOOOO**


	36. Luck

**oH SNAP UPDATING A DAY EARLY**

* * *

First round was a breeze. Two-on-two match, in which most beginners bring out the first two pokemon they ever obtained. I planned to battle with Def and Coeur, mostly because they weren't starter types. They also balanced each other out – if there was a dark type, Coeur could cover; if there was a fighting type, Def could cover.

Angelica Flores from Hearthome City (Def informed me that Faith was giggling her head off about "angel's trumpet" flowers) brought in a grotle and graveler, which pretty much confirmed what I expected. I had Def in for the first round, against her grotle, and kept him in for the second round so he could sweep an easy win with magical leaf.

Thomas was in the green room when I returned. "Congrats," he said.

"Thanks. Why are you dressed up?" I asked him. He looked like he was going on a summer date, wearing slacks and a light blue button-down.

"It's a tournament," he said. "Why aren't you dressed up?"

I looked around to make sure – yep, everyone around me was dressed in normal clothes – and said, "We dress up for contests, but not usually for tournaments. Unless it's like… a theme tournament, maybe, like some historical towns do for tourism, or maybe the Sinnoh League itself."

"You're performing, why not dress your best?"

"Why not wear what you're comfortable battling in?"

"If your battling skills depends on your outfit, are you really a good trainer?"

I started numbering off on my fingers. "Skirts get blown around in battle," I began. "Tights slide down my thighs. Heels suck to stand in, and the only rental flats are too narrow for my feet. Unlike you, I'd be obligated to wear makeup–"

"Those sound like girl problems," he said.

"Yeah. It's much easier to dress up if it's like that," I said, gesturing at his minimal-effort dressiness.

"Why not just wear something like this?" Thomas said.

"I would," I sighed. "I've lowkey always wanted to dress like a guy, but my mom was always against it."

"I meant a shirt and pants."

"Oh. It wouldn't be so bad."

"Next up, Thomas Zamora. On deck, AJ Kaur."

"Good luck," I said.

"Thanks," he said, heading out.

I turned and let my smile drop into a frown. My mom didn't like me getting anywhere near crossdressing. I hadn't even realized. Was that a bad sign? Did that mean she'd be like Maylene's family?

And why did Thomas's outfit bother me?

* * *

Day one was round one for all divisions. Ours began with 28 trainers, so 4 random competitors were given a bye in round one. By evening we were down to 16, which meant the tournament organizers would be setting up a real bracket from then on out.

I hadn't talked to Lucas since he arrived – he came back sometime late at night, and was still asleep when I left the room. He and Dawn had both passed round one as well, so they were gathered with the rest of the trainers in the green room, waiting for the bracket to be announced.

I joined them, coming up next to Lucas. He looked my way for a second, nodded, and went back to looking somewhere else.

"Hey," I said quietly. He wasn't even looking at anything in particular.

Dawn leaned behind him to talk to me. "There's about a one in five chance that one of us will face another," she told me.

"Oh. Wow. That's exciting," I said, a little surprised at how large that chance was.

An excited murmur spread from the front of the crowd: the lower division lineups had been announced. Us next.

Thomas made his way towards us as the 1-and-2 badge trainers made their way out. "Did you guys get your lineup yet?" he asked.

"Not yet."

We waited. I kept glancing at Lucas, trying to read his expression. When did I get so bad at this? It stressed me out more than the upcoming battle brackets.

"How… how was your first match?" I asked him.

"It was fine," he said.

Which was as brief as I should've expected. I struggled to come up with something else to say.

The brackets went up, and I scanned for my name. I found it, paired with–

 _Are you for flipping real._

Literally paired with Lucas Tristan.

* * *

Day two. Round two. I still couldn't believe I was going up against Lucas so soon. My stomach seemed to know what was going on better than I did. I felt sick.

I went to the opposite green room a few battles before ours, so I could wish him luck. At the entrance, I peeked around the corner, to see if he was already there.

He and Dawn were talking. She spoke more animatedly than he did, which was expected. Lucas was smiling, with an expression I hadn't seen in a while.

 _I… I guess I won't disturb them_ , I thought hastily, backing out of the room.

On my way to the other side of the stadium, I ran into Thomas. Naturally.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

"Yeah?"

"You seem nervous."

"Oh. I guess."

He lightly patted my shoulder. "It's okay. Before you go on, pretend you're a pokemon using focus energy."

A laugh burst from my mouth. "I mean, I guess."

"Good luck," he said. "Although you won't need it.

I shook my head, smiling. "Thanks."

* * *

Thomas's focus energy idea ultimately didn't work, and I wound up standing on one side of the battlefield with a stomachache, barely able to hear the judge talking. It's fine, I know it was something like "Evelyn from Twinleaf and Lucas also from Twinleaf, two-on-two match, substitutions allowed between rounds." This is why you read the rules ahead of time, kids.

"Battlers, are you ready?"

Lucas nodded. I gave a thumbs-up and fished out the pokeball I needed.

"Battle, begin!"

"Trust, it's yours!"

"Houndoom! Use howl!"

Okay, I'm not gonna lie. I have forgotten what howl does. Judging by the lack of tangible effects on the field or Trust, I guessed it was a self-imposed status move.

"Trust, mach punch!"

"Thunder fang!"

As the two rushed forth, I quickly analyzed the type matchup – two fire types, one fighting, one dark. Trust had an advantage, but only with fighting moves.

Trust's mach punch hit square in the face, which gave Houndoom easy access to his arm. The day 2 crowd cheered and called out advice that was lost to the din. "Again," Lucas called.

" _Avoid the mouth_ ," I said to Def. Out loud, I said, "Brick break!"

Trust leaped over her at the last moment, landing his hit on her back. He jumped away as she turned and snapped her jaws at him.

"Thunder fang! Like against Byron!"

" _Avoid her mouth at all costs_ ," I reminded Trust. " _Looks like thunder fang is the only move she has that'll do much against you. If you need to, use mach punch._ "

We played defensively, Trust dodging everything. When Houndoom got too close, Trust used mach punch in another direction to speed himself up.

"Brick break!" I said once Houndoom started to look tired. Trust ran in and leaped. A mistake. Houndoom caught him by the foot as he came down, pulling him to the side. She discharged electricity through her teeth – in effect, thunderbolt. But now she was close.

"Trust, mach punch. Lots."

Trust fought the electricity surging through him to nail Lucas's houndoom in the face. He did so twice, three times before she let go.

"Back up," said Lucas. "Howl."

I jumped at the opportunity – at the risk. Clutching my necklace pendant for luck, I told Trust, "Focus punch."

As Houndoom howled, Trust charged up energy in his fist. "Quick, thunder fang!" Lucas called out.

 _Come on, Trust…_

Houndoom pounced, jaws open. Trust threw his fist, and in a burst of bluish-white energy, the two were propelled back from each other.

Trust caught himself. Houndoom fell and didn't get up.

"Houndoom is unable to battle."

A smattering of applause from the audience. I let go of my necklace. " _Trust, well done_ ," I said happily. The judge looked my way and I shook my head, indicating that I wasn't going to switch out.

"Psyduck, go."

Welp.

" _Trust, do you want to forfeit the round?_ " I asked, thinking of the type disadvantage and the damage he had already taken.

He turned around with a look of mock offense on his face.

"All right, all right," I said, laughing. "Mach punch, then."

"Confusion."

As he lunged forward, I fleshed out the plan telepathically. " _Go with scratch and fury swipes mostly. Mach punch for speed._ "

Before he even got there, Psyduck's eyes glowed blue, lifting Trust with psychic energy. "Flamethrower," I said. It was his only distance move. Psyduck slammed Trust down and caught the fire in his psychic gaze. Trust staggered to his feet, but before he could make another move, Lucas's psyduck rediverted his flamethrower back at him. The combination of the fire and psychic energy barreled through Trust, and while I hoped he was still standing, I already knew.

"Monferno is unable to battle."

"Great job, Trust," I said, pulling him back.

The crowd murmured excitedly. I hesitated. I knew who I wanted to battle with – had type advantages, needed practice fighting, needed practice fighting water types, specifically – but was now really the time for that?

" _She is ready_ ," said Def.

" _Yeah…_ "

" _Tu sais she is ready_."

I breathed deeply and touched my necklace. "Fly high, Hope!"

Hope burst from her pokeball with a delighted squeal.

"Psyduck, use confusion," Lucas said.

" _Don't let it hit you! It's hard to see!"_

Hope was already high in the air. She swooped around, changing course erratically. Psyduck's eyes glowed blue, and her head moved around trying to pinpoint Hope. Nothing happened, and a few seconds later, she clutched her head with her flippers. Between her natural psyduck headache and Hope's constant motion, she was having trouble getting confusion to hit.

" _Hope! Doing great! Now use shockwave!_ "

"Shockwave!" I said out loud. Although Hope couldn't hear me all there way up there, I was still trying to hide that I had a telepathic pokemon.

With a battle cry of "Prrrri~" Hope continued flying in swift circles and let down a bolt of electricity. Psyduck quacked in shock (HAHA GET IT LIKE SHOCKWAVE).

"Disable," said Lucas.

" _Shockwave, quick!_ " I said silently and audibly.

Psyduck's eyes glowed blue, and a wave of psychic energy rippled out from her body. Hope elicited another "Prri~" and another shockwave before the disable hit her – shockwave got through and zapped Psyduck again, but I knew the move would be gone for a while.

" _Hope, use swift_ ," I said, starting to plan ahead.

Hope sent a flurry of stars down at Psyduck, who was completely unprepared. For a moment I could read Lucas's expression again – stunned confusion – and then his eyes narrowed and eyebrows returned to an impassive – albeit stressed – position.

"Disable," he said, glancing at me.

Psyduck let out a disabling wave, and then swift was out. " _Okay. Hope? Use the biggest magical leaf you can!_ "

"Disable the next move," Lucas said.

Psyduck went for it right as Hope did – her magical leaf got through, but I got the sense that it should have lasted longer. And Psyduck was standing still.

" _Nice job, Hope! Keep dodging for a bit, okay?_ "

"Prri~" I heard, and Hope seemed to speed up a little.

I wasn't entirely sure what Lucas said next, but it sounded like, "Icarus can't fly if his wings are wet"? Psyduck shot a watergun into the air – basic. An easy dodge. Until he grabbed the water with a confusion, like a giant blue serpent, and went after Hope.

I winced – this brought me back to the battle with Azelf – pull it together, it's a common move – but ultimately it was up to Hope to dodge.

" _Don't let your wings get wet_ ," I told her audibly and telepathically.

Psyduck strained to force the water snake to keep up with Hope. She whirled and changed directions suddenly and flew with the goofy gracelessness of an oddly-weighted bird. The snake started tying itself in knots, and I realized it was almost surrounding her.

" _Fly down and get out of it_ ," I instructed.

Hope obeyed, and too late I noticed Psyduck gathering water in a water pulse.

"Now!" yelled Lucas.

Psyduck launched the sphere of water right at Hope, hitting her square in the face. Hope squealed and started to sink lower; the water had splashed her wings. She could have recovered, and it could have dried out quickly – if not for the water snake that came crashing down on her, and fell with her to the ground.

"Great job, Psyduck!" Lucas said, wearing a smile that hurt my heart.

His psyduck shook her head briskly, quacked, and started to glow. Perfect. We had time.

" _Hope, you okay?_ " I said as Psyduck began evolution.

She was soaking wet and lying on the ground, but when I reached out she shook herself out and got up, a bit battered but conscious somehow.

"Pri," she said determinedly.

" _Nice! Hey, dry yourself off as much as you can. You have a little time._ " She started to flap her wings frantically. The audience oohed and aahed at the evolving pokemon across the field.

" _Hey Hope – keep drying yourself off – I want you to know… even if we don't win this battle, I'm already so,_ _so_ _proud of you._ "

"Prrri~"

Lucas's now-golduck emerged from the light. I didn't bother to hold my necklace for luck. Luck didn't matter.

"Confusion," Lucas said, and from across the battlefield I could see the determined glint in his eyes.

A headache no longer obstructing her, Golduck took a blue psychic grip on Hope, pinning her down. I was so thankful that confusion is not an inherently damaging move.

"Water gun!"

"Shockwave!" I said, hoping disable's time was up.

And it was. The watergun and shockwave met in midair, struggling for territory in a reverse tug-of-war. I noticed the blue glow around Hope fading, and silently said, " _If you can, keep using the move, and jump up or fly._ "

Hope struggled to her feet, still holding on to the shockwave in front of her. This situation usually plays out in favor of the physically stronger pokemon and move. However, we had accuracy on our side.

So Hope leapt into the air, flapping hard, and her shockwave made it around the watergun to hit Golduck directly. She wasn't in the air for long, still heavy with water, but it didn't matter. The watergun died down and stopped, and Golduck collapsed. Hope let up on the shockwave, gasping "Prri… prri…" from exertion.

"Golduck is unable to battle! Which means the battle goes to Evelyn of Twinleaf Town!"

The audience cheered or applauded politely; I saw Thomas and Dawn on the sideline, Thomas yelling, "Go Evelyn!" and Dawn clapping with a smile on her face.

I turned back to the field, and Hope immediately tackled me. I fell over backwards, laughing, my sopping wet togetic on my chest.

Let us now remember that I was effectively wearing a shiny stone around my neck.

The pokemon on my chest glowed and grew heavy, and emerged a togekiss, still hugging me. I hugged her back. "I'm so proud of you," I whispered.

We managed to get up and head to the middle of the battlefield for courtesy handshakes. "Congrats," Lucas said shortly.

"Thanks," I said. "Congrats to your golduck for evolving! And to you – that was a really good battle."

He nodded tacitly. I extended my hand to shake. He extended his, too, but not before hesitating just long enough for me to know he really didn't want to, and was only doing so for sportsmanship's sake.

I exhaled when I turned away. I still didn't know how to fix what was wrong between us – or even what was wrong, really. But for now, I pushed it aside, hugged my togekiss again, and made my way off the field.

* * *

 **Angelica (more accurately, Angel) is also a reference to Axel. I started watching Love Live recently because of him (and nEVER HAVE I EVER FALLEN FOR A CHARACTER FASTER THAN I DID FOR MAKI NISHIKINO SHE'S MY FAVE). AJ is a reference to a character from the first fanfiction I published online.**

 **I'd like to give a shoutout to everyone who's ever reviewed/commented on this fic: servine, Sky65, Vixal, InspireFire, Anla'shok, Stairway to Elysia, Polarissb, Y-ko, An Author's Pen, Red Zeppelin, various guests (including Sean), and especially Keleri, who literally went and reviewed almost every single chapter to date?! I've been meaning to respond to them all in one mass message, but I was waiting for you to finish lol. It means so much to me, so thank you.**


	37. Puzzle

So here's what happened next.

Battles between the top eight were set for the afternoon. These were 3-on-3 matches. Everything from quarterfinals onward would be tomorrow, day 3.

Dawn had won her top-16 match, and her top-8 was early in the afternoon. She also won that. If I won my top-8, Dawn and I would be battling in the quarterfinals, a 4-on-4 double battle. I started strategizing against her immediately.

I could go with Coeur, who had no particular advantage, but also no particular disadvantage. Faith had an advantage against Dawn's scyther and no other disadvantages. Dawn's electabuzz worried me because we had two disadvantages and no advantages against electricity. Hope, meanwhile, was the only one with an electric advantage against Kenna and Dawn's altaria and scyther. Def could cover Kenna and Melody with magical leaf and psychic moves, but he was bad against the scyther, which Trust could cover, but Trust was bad against Kenna and the altaria, which Hope could cover, but she was bad against Dawn's electabuzz, which none of us could cover…?

Anyways. I'll spare myself the embarrassment and just tell you I lost the next battle. In the retrospect of just a few minutes after Faith, Def, and Prom got trashed by Ashley de Leon of Sunyshore, I figured out that I'd been so focused on my battle with Dawn, I forgot to take the present battle seriously.

First tournament, anyways. Not bad. Got to top 8.

" _Luck evolved_ ," Def mentioned.

It confused me until I remembered I'd been using the shiny stone necklace as a lucky charm. " _Yeah_ ," I said, laughing. " _I suppose so._ "

* * *

Day three. Dawn and Thomas were still in, so Lucas and I stayed. Thomas joined us in watching Dawn's mid-morning quarterfinal battle.

It was a strange experience; Thomas sat between me and Lucas, talking to both of us in turn. Occasionally I would attempt to reply to something Lucas said; he never responded to me.

Dawn did better than I did against Ashley, but she lost as well. This made me feel a little bit better about my loss.

Afterwards, Dawn and Lucas headed out. I almost considered leaving – more time with Lucas, more time to figure things out – but I knew I was a better person than that.

"Sorry we're not staying longer," Dawn said. "It's just if we leave now, we can get to Pastoria by nightfall."

"That's all right. You guys are traveling together again?" I asked.

Dawn shook her head. "We're just heading in the same direction. I'm stopping in Pastoria, but he's heading back to Canalave."

That made more sense.

"It's really nice of you to stay for him, though," Dawn said, referring to the 5-badge trainer with a battle in three hours.

I shrugged. "It's not like he's got anyone else supporting him."

Dawn nodded. "Okay. Well, see you around."

"See ya," I said.

Lucas didn't say anything. "Say goodbye, you goof," Dawn said, mussing his hair.

He smoothed his hair back down. "Bye," he said. For a moment his expression was almost open, like he was fine with – even glad about – talking to me.

"See you," I said, my heart backflipping.

He looked away. Should I have been pleased he reacted like that? Concerned that Dawn had to prompt him to say anything? Flipping heck, man.

As we parted ways, though, I kept thinking of how Dawn had messed with his hair, and how Lucas hated to be touched. I never would have done that.

* * *

Thomas left lunch early to get dressed up. "That still seems like such a hassle," I told him.

"I'm _performing_."

I shook my head and finished my lunch. There was a good hour left before his battle, so I went to wander around a little outside the stadium.

"Excuse me, do you know what divisions are competing right now?"

I turned around. There was a girl who looked about my age – short, dark-haired, wearing a gray cardigan over a blue skirt.

"I think they're on a break right now. The 5-and-6 badge division starts quarterfinals at one," I let her know.

"Okay. Thanks."

I nodded, and noticed a little latios-shaped figure at the bottom of her skirt. "Nice skirt," I said, grinning.

"Thanks! It's my favorite," she said, smiling. She had a slight Jubilife accent.

"You're into the eon duo too?"

"Ever since I was little."

"Same here. I've forgotten all my reasons why, but I remember thinking they're awesome."

"Yeah, and who needs mainstream favorites like mewtwo and articuno when you can support the underappreciated legendary pokemon out there?"

"So true," I said, laughing.

"Anyways. I gotta catch up with my friends, but thanks again. I'm trying to avoid someone in the first division," she said, shrugging in a what-can-you-do way.

"Ahh. Okay. Have fun!" I said.

"Thanks!"

She walked off, and I caught myself feeling lighter than before. I guess I'd enjoyed being able to connect with someone like that.

 _Or you think she's cute_ , said a voice in the back of my head.

I tensed and glanced at the girl walking away. _No I don't_ , I told the voice hurriedly, looking away.

 _What makes you so sure?_

I shook my head internally. No. If she was cute, I hadn't noticed. She just had the body type I'd always wanted, and I liked her skirt because it was blue and had a latios.

 _Do you hear yourself?_

 _Stoppp_ , I told the stupid voice, deciding to walk to the green room just to get away from… this.

* * *

There was something _terribly wrong_ with Thomas's outfit.

"What is it?" he asked, looking down. "Did I spill something? I've only been wearing this for five minutes."

"No…"

It was a button-down and pants like the day before, although this shirt was burgundy and his pants were dark brown. The shirt was tucked in evenly, his socks matched, and there were no stains in sight.

"I don't know what it is," I finally said.

"Okay. Well, if you figure it out, let me know," Thomas said.

"Oh, I will. This is _really_ bothering me."

"That's not all that's bothering you."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, I was there this morning, too."

"You mean when Lucas was refusing to talk to me?"

"Mhm."

"Thanks for bringing it up, I really appreciate it," I said, laying the sarcasm on thick.

"Just checking on how you're doing."

I rubbed my forehead tiredly. "Thomas, I'm _fine_."

He didn't respond. He set his bag on the countertop by a mirror and started rummaging through it.

"Whatever," I muttered. "I just don't get why he's so mad at me."

"He's not mad."

I blinked. "You know what's going on? Tell me."

"I don't know what's going on," he said, taking several things out of his bag – water, a bowl, a glasses case. "He just didn't strike me as mad."

"And you know this… how exactly?"

"Same way I know you're stressing over him," Thomas said, pointing his glasses case at me. "It's obvious."

"Then what is he, if not mad?"

He tapped the case against his chin. "You know when you spend too much time with someone and you don't want to talk to them anymore?"

"I've literally never felt that way… is this a subliminal message?"

"What I'm _saying_ is he just doesn't feel like talking to you," said Thomas. "I don't know why. That's just the sense I got."

"Huh." I frowned. "So he just needs space."

"Yeah, probably." He looked into his bag and pulled out a small plastic case.

"Next up, Kyle Nguyen. On deck, Thomas Zamora."

"I'm gonna find a spot. Good luck."

"Wait, can you hold on to my wallet? I don't want to leave it in the room."

I frowned at him. "Did someone hold it the last few times you battled?"

"These pants have smaller pockets. Please?"

I took it and put it in my bag.

"Thanks." He turned to the mirror.

I headed out, still thinking about what he'd said. So Lucas just needed space… Was that the case? I hadn't even seen him for weeks before this tournament… so…?

I also couldn't deny the physical ache in my chest when I thought about having to avoid talking to him. In the past – especially last time around – talking to him always lifted my spirits so much. It didn't even matter what we were talking about – it could be something mundane, or he could lean in like he was listening, or he could hear everything I said easily – it always resulted in every part of me floating on air.

I'm not sure I can explain why. Maybe it was the way he leaned in. Maybe it was the way he held my eyes with his, the way someone would hold both your hands in sincerity.

Most likely it's because I love him.

Anyways. Giving Lucas even more space would sting, but if it was for the best, then it would be worth it. I could do that.

Decisions are a lot easier to make when you don't immediately feel their impacts.

* * *

I found a seat in the stadium as Kyle Nguyen defeated Kevin Hale. The venue was really filling up, as trainers who'd finished their brackets joined the audience and spectators came to watch higher-stakes and higher-division battles. I checked my poketch – the tournament was slightly behind schedule. There was no gap between the current battlers leaving the field and the next battlers walking on.

"This will be a four-on-four double battle between Thomas of Ecruteak City and Tejal of Snowpoint City. No substitutions will be allowed between rounds. Battlers, are you ready?"

I was zoning out a little, so it took me a minute to notice that Thomas wasn't wearing his glasses. But when I did, everything clicked into place.

"Battle… begin!"

I'd rarely ever seen him without his glasses on, and he looked so different that it was no wonder I'd forgotten. If his clothing had seemed wrong before, his lack of glasses was the last piece in a puzzle spelling disaster.

Because _I remembered him._

 _Valor Resort Tournament, last time around. Dawn was up against a 3-badge trainer, a guy dressed up in dark red and brown. For the longest time he had the upper hand, and Dawn was down to her last pokemon – Rhea, her grotle._

 _Rhea finally beat the trainer's first pokemon, a sandslash. Lucas and I cheered for Dawn, and we were so focused on the battle, we didn't realize anything was wrong until Rhea also beat the trainer's silver noctowl._

 _"_ _That was fast," I said, frowning._

 _"_ _Look at her opponent," said Lucas._

 _I looked, and found Dawn's opponent glancing nervously at the sidelines. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary there, but whatever he was seeing was enough to thoroughly distract him from the battle._

 _He shakily pulled out his last pokeball and released a quilava on the field. At the time I didn't have a ton of battle experience, but I could still clearly see how little sense his battle choices made. He did things like ask his quilava to use ember when Rhea had her between her jaws, where the quilava couldn't reach her. Sloppy decisions that were nothing like the trainer he'd been five minutes ago._

 _And he lost. He calmly shook hands with Dawn, but as he walked off the field, a shadow passed over his face. For a split second, he looked for the world like he was breaking inside. But he composed himself and left the field._

I had to retrace. Where were we sitting when we watched them? Wait – what side of the stadium was Dawn on? The north side? The south side? Or was that a different tournament?

I shook my head a little – it wasn't even the same battle timing. Different division, different round.

Cassie and Esther – quilava, ampharos – were on the field, up against a shelgon and daikenki (sorry, a samurott… do you mind if I just call her a daikenki?). Tejal, the opponent, was playing with type advantage and getting her daikenki to attack Cassie. Thomas was mostly having Cassie dodge and Esther attack, turning the advantages around. He was ignoring the shelgon, but he could afford to, as the dragon-type wasn't especially fast. Things were going well.

And yet… I couldn't get it out of my head.

" _Evelyn, have you ever…_ " Def paused. " _Well, peut-être pas._ "

" _What are you talking about?_ "

" _Someone is trying to talk à moi._ "

" _Who?_ "

" _Je ne sais pas._ "

Thomas's counterstrategy quickly paid off, as a thunder from Esther took out the daikenki. Tejal sent in a vibrava, and though Thomas tried, Esther soon went down as well. He sent out his absol.

" _Ah, it's him!_ "

" _What's him?_ "

" _Marcassin is trying to talk à moi_."

I zeroed in on Thomas's absol – Marcassin looked anxious. Oh no. The disaster pokemon knew something was up.

Okay. What happened to Thomas last time? What would do that to him?

 _I barely know him_ , I thought desperately. _How am I supposed to figure this out?_

 _Well, what do you know about him?_

 _I… fuck, um, he's from Johto, he's got five badges in two regions, he hasn't gotten over his ex…_

It clicked. I dug through my bag to find Thomas's wallet, and dug through his wallet to find the photo of him and April. I could try and match the photo to the people in the crowd, although the stadium was full enough that this might take a while.

No such problem. I recognized the girl in the picture immediately. We'd had a chat about legendary pokemon.

I scanned the stadium for blue and gray, and eventually found the girl in the latios skirt on the opposite side of the battlefield. She was sitting dangerously close to the sideline with two friends, watching the battle with a nervous grimace on her face.

 _No wonder she's avoiding someone in the first division. At the rate of five badges in one year, Thomas ought to be a one-badge trainer in Sinnoh by now._

I bolted down the stairs to the edge of the stands. Marcassin took out the vibrava with an ice beam. 2-1, Thomas. A heracross joined the battle. Thomas was winning; maybe if I could just pull Thomas's attention away from the wrong side of the field until the end of the battle…

"Go Thomas!" I shouted. "WOOOOOOO!"

He grinned in my direction and continued battling.

"You got this, Thomas!" I kept yelling. "Go! WOO!"

The noise of the crowd made my shouting less weird. Not that the weirdness mattered. I just needed Thomas not to see her.

Then Cassie tackled Heracross with flame wheel, throwing them both into the far wall. Too close. Tooclosetooclosetooclose.

"YOU GOT THIS, THOMAS!" I hollered desperately.

But his face fell. The smile melted from his face, and he forgot to give his pokemon a command. April happened to glance his way, and cringed as their eyes met.

"Come on, Thomas," I yelled, faltering.

They broke eye contact almost immediately. Thomas kept looking back anxiously at April. He was breathing too fast. The battle was as good as over – Cassie went down quickly, and Swaine went in briefly before he and Marcassin both fell to Thomas's opponent.

I was out of there before Thomas and Tejal even shook hands. I rushed to the green room.

Thomas jumped when I burst into the room. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"What's _wrong?_ " I echoed.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

"Are _you?_ "

"Yeah."

"Uhm?"

"What?"

I stared into the innocent façade of his face. Thomas was composed, but something about him was the smallest bit subdued.

"I'm gonna get dressed," he said, pointing at the bathroom stalls. I realized he was holding his regular clothes in his hands.

"Oh. Okay."

He went in, and I sank into an armchair with a sigh.

So much for that. Honestly, it seemed like this bothered him less than me. He was taking this… very well. I'd mostly been worried because I knew he still wasn't over her, but he'd taken it similarly well last time.

But then there was the overwhelming sense of missing a puzzle piece.

* * *

 **Ashley, Kyle, and Kevin are all from the same story as AJ from last chapter. Tejal sort of is too, but that's not the original character's name because fuck the original character's name.**

 **In other news, daikenki is just what I've always called samurotts, and I'm 80% sure it's Axel's fault.  
**

 **Going back to college in a week ;_; I should be more excited but I've enjoyed being lazy for too long oops.**


	38. Soulmates

***sprints into the room once again***

 **HI OK I'M BACK AND I HAVE A WEEK BEFORE MIDTERMS LET'S DO THIS**

* * *

"Where are you off to?" Thomas asked me.

It was the day after the Valor Resort Tournament, and trainers were heading out. As for the aggron in the room: I'd been keeping watch over Thomas since yesterday afternoon, and he seemed genuinely unaffected by April's surprise appearance. Which didn't seem right – I mean, he'd lost the battle almost immediately after seeing her – but if he was doing well, then I couldn't complain.

"I'm going home for a bit," I said. "Megan's birthday is this week. I'm gonna get some training in at home."

"Where are you from, again?"

"Twinleaf."

"Twinleaf…" He blinked. "Oh. Southwest Sinnoh?"

"Yep. About as south and west as you can get."

"Isn't it a bit far?"

I shrugged. "I did it last time around. Plus Def can teleport."

"Ah, okay. Do you mind if I join you?"

"That's fine. Def can only teleport one person at a time, though, and he'll need to rest between jumps –"

"Oh, I can fly on Silver," Thomas said.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I haven't in a while."

Definite let himself out of his pokeball. "Okay then," I said, taking Def's hand. "See you in Twinleaf?"

"See you in Twinleaf."

A swoop and a second later, Def and I landed in Twinleaf. " _How was that?_ " I asked him.

" _Not bad_ ," he said, looking marginally less gray than last time.

I looked around the spot we'd landed and smiled. Megan had acquainted him with my room.

"Mom, I'm home," I called down, retrieving Def and heading downstairs.

* * *

Monday, November 8th. I met up with Megan and Tricia for dinner. My stomach was tight as I worried about how I'd react to seeing Megan again. It felt like I was about to give a presentation I wasn't ready for.

When I saw her I… felt… nothing…? Well, not nothing. But it was less seeing-the-girl-you-like and more seeing my best friend again. Similar to what I felt towards Tricia. The tension in my chest lightened a little.

* * *

Tuesday, November 9th. I went to train at Lake Verity. Megan and Tricia came along with me after school just to hang out while I was in town. It was loads of fun. Tricia loved Hope, which was the least surprising thing I'd experienced this month. I let them play while I worked with Def and Prom. The plan was to battle Crasher Wake soon after Megan's birthday, sometime early next week.

In other news, I checked Looker's diary. The coming Monday was the day Galactic tested their bomb at the Great Marsh. Obviously things would be different, as much of Galactic's energy had been taken in Eterna early on. But it was a friendly-ominous reminder of what could happen soon.

All day I was conscious of how I was feeling around Megan – things were pleasantly normal. I started worrying less about falling for her, because being around her was nothing like being around Lucas or boys I'd liked in the past.

Thomas arrived in Twinleaf that night. We didn't see each other much, as he was staying at the Pokemon Center across town. This was fine by me – this week was for my friends from home.

* * *

…okay. I lied. Wednesday morning was for another purpose.

Wednesday, November 10th. Looker and I teleported to Eterna City to meet with Cynthia. He came to Twinleaf to give me a natu (so that Def could more easily teleport me back), then teleported out. I followed him a second later.

When I arrived behind the Pokemon Center in Eterna, Looker was frowning. "What took so long?" he asked.

I laughed at the joke. Then I realized he wasn't joking. "I left right after you," I said.

"That was almost five minutes ago."

"That was… ten seconds ago?"

We stood staring at each other, trying to figure out how the misalignment in perception happened.

"Ah, hello! You must be Looker and Evelyn."

I looked towards the voice. The Sinnoh League Champion was striding towards us, smiling. I'd never seen her in person before – I'd never realized _how tall_ she was.

"Yes indeed. And of course, you're Cynthia," Looker said. I was too starstruck by the _top trainer in Sinnoh talking to us_ to get words together.

"How did you know?" She grinned. "Let's go back to my place and chat."

Cynthia's place was just an apartment on the edge of the city. Which I suppose makes sense for someone who'd want to lie low, and whom I believe lives in multiple cities. Inside, the apartment was a mix of practical furniture, cardboard boxes, and Sinnoh mythology-themed wall hangings. I recognized the one covering the wall behind a sofa: three points of light, blue, pink, and yellow, and a white light in the center.

"Can't forget my Celestic Town heritage," Cynthia commented, noticing me. "As if I ever could. It's shaped my entire career. Tea? Coffee?"

I opted for tea, Looker went with black coffee, and Cynthia debated between the two for a bit before pouring herself a teacup of each. "So," she said, sinking into an armchair by the sofa Looker and I were sitting on. "I hear you spoke with my grandmother?"

"We did. She informed us that we should speak to you, rather than her, about the mythological aspects of things," Looker said.

"Sounds about right. What's first?"

"Well… How exactly does one summon the Lake Trio?" Looker asked.

Cynthia gave him a puzzled look. "What's this about?"

"Hypotheticals."

I glanced at Looker. He was _definitely_ trying to keep her out of it still.

"Physically?"

"…sorry?"

"There are a few ways they can be summoned," Cynthia explained. "Sometimes they appear in body, sometimes in spirit."

"Ah… The more ways we know about, the better," said Looker.

"All right. To summon them physically, one might cause a large disturbance in the lake. One appears to protect the lake; the others appear to protect their own and to assist the first."

"That's about what we thought," Looker said, nodding.

"Summoning them in spirit is much more difficult." Cynthia stirred her tea and took a sip. "The Lake Trio occasionally appears to lend or request help. Humans have been known to approach the lakes with their personal problems. For example, one might seek Mesprit for emotional support, Uxie for advice on important decisions, Azelf for the strength to carry on. In these cases, the guardian does not appear in image, but if the request is reasonable, they are said to grant it."

"Is it true?" Looker asked.

"I have yet to experience it myself, but I have no reason to doubt it. The Lake Trio also requests help from humans or pokemon sometimes. They pick out… I suppose the term would be soulmates? Though the concept of a soulmate varies widely. The image of the guardian appears to someone who exemplifies the embodied trait in some way, and they have a direct interaction. But this is extremely rare. The last time it happened was more than two centuries ago, when the industrial boom brought factories that polluted Lake Valor and Lake Verity."

Looker was a bit lost for words. I took over. "What sort of interaction?"

"The guardian sort of… Sort of speaks to the chosen soulmate, but not with words. Guides their thoughts, stirs memories, that sort of thing."

"What would the Lake Trio request help for, in general?"

"Generally, the protection of the lakes or the region."

"Is the protection of the entire world under their jurisdiction?"

"The Lake Trio is primarily focused on the Sinnoh region, so if something happening in Oblivia threatened the world, they might not go to help immediately. If it was happening in Sinnoh, though, then definitely. I imagine they'd even call three."

"Call three?"

"Three soulmates," Cynthia clarified. "Completing the trio. This would be for extreme circumstances."

"Does the partnership itself serve any function…?" I asked.

"The lake guardian can send their soulmates support in their area of specialty – emotion, knowledge, willpower. They are also connected on a not-quite psychic level – if something happens to the lake guardian, the soulmate becomes aware of it."

"Are the soulmates themselves connected in any way?" I asked. "Like would Uxie's soulmate be connected to Mesprit's?"

"That's hard to say. In the case of the polluted lakes, it was actually one professor in Snowpoint who became Uxie's soulmate to aid Valor and Verity. It was a knowledge-based problem. Multiple soulmates are extraordinarily rare – and I know I keep saying things are rare, but this one is compounded by the rarity of the Lake Trio having soulmates at all. I can't say for certain what their relation would be. Again, it's a matter of the whole world being at risk."

My mind was whirring. If Looker and I were both chosen already… Was there a third? Why didn't this happen last time? Or did it? Why differently? Did the Lake Trio know about Galactic? Why us?

Looker cleared his throat. "We've gone off track. We were also meaning to ask about the Spear Key."

"What do you know about it?"

"Just that it opens Spear Pillar."

"Okay. It's also like a… I want to say a metal detector, but for artifacts. It can be used to locate related objects."

"Such as the Orbs?"

"Yeah, like the Adamant, Lustrous, and Griseous Orbs. The Red Chain activates it."

Looker grimaced. This complicated things – if Galactic got ahold of the Key, the Orbs were no longer hidden. "Does anyone know where it is?"

"Not really. The texts describing its location are effectively a set of riddles, so it's a bit ambiguous. The consensus is that it's in a ruin somewhere in Sinnoh. The point where archaeologists agree ends there."

"Where do you think it is?" Looker asked her.

Cynthia hesitated. She picked up her coffee and took a sip. "The texts," she said, "go on a tangent with seemingly nothing to do with the Spear Key. Roughly translated, they say, 'By chance it is born, transcending emotion, strength, and knowledge while holding on to them tightly still. And with it – life is given purpose.'"

"What is it?"

Cynthia smiled. "That's all I can say."

"Could I write that down…?" Looker asked, pulling out a notepad.

Cynthia repeated it for him, and he wrote it in. "That's all the questions we had," he said, putting the notebook away. "I'll contact you if there's anything else."

"Of course." Cynthia said.

Looker and I got to our feet. Cynthia followed us to the door.

"Thanks for everything," I said.

"It's no problem," said Cynthia. "And…" She looked at Looker. "I realize the International Police has a certain amount of pride. But I am effectively the human in charge of protecting this region, and I can't imagine all of those questions were hypothetical."

Looker glanced away. "I'll… keep that in mind," he said.

"Just let me know if there's anything I can do," Cynthia said cheerfully.

"All right. Goodbye."

Looker and I headed down the steps inside the building. "So regarding the Trio," I said. "It's possible that there's a third soulmate, and they know of our existence but we don't know of theirs. I knew Uxie met you, but you didn't sense anything from me. It's also possible Mesprit hasn't picked a soulmate yet."

"Could be."

He seemed quiet. I was 94% sure he was still thinking about what Cynthia had said at the end.

"Looker, what's your job?" I asked him.

"My job?"

"Describe your occupation."

"I carry out the missions assigned by–"

"No, in a broader sense."

The confusion left his face. "Maintain peace in the world, I suppose."

"You have an important job. _Uxie_ has chosen you for the same job you already had. I think you know what you need to do – it's your call whether you're going to let your company get in the way of your job."

I pulled out Def's pokeball and released him. "I'll see you later."

"See you."

Def took my hand, and in a moment we were in Twinleaf. I let down my guard and giggled.

"That _dramatic-ass exit_ ," I snickered.

* * *

Thursday, November 11th. School got out early. Megan was going to Sandgem for an early birthday celebration with her extended family, so Tricia and I took advantage of this to actually go shopping for a birthday gift (procrastination? What's that?).

One thing led to another (that is to say, we couldn't find anything good and we wound up near a craft store) and our shopping trip became a craft day at Tricia's house. Her parents and siblings were out. It was just us.

"Look at this," Tricia said. I looked up at the card. It was a set of paper layers – she pulled a tab and a stick figure slid across the card. Behind it trailed the word "WHEEEEEEEEEE!"

I laughed. "That's great."

I tied a knot in my stitching and cut the thread. There was something resting in the back of my head – I thought it was distant enough that I could ignore it, but it kept resurfacing.

"Hm… now what…" Tricia mused, looking down at the crafting supplies. I smiled. She didn't have a plan.

"How's your internship going?" I asked her, rethreading my needle.

"Pretty well. On Saturday Maya and I went to Lake Verity and checked out the wildlife there. We basically got to play with starlies."

"Maya?"

"I didn't tell you about Maya? She's an intern with me."

"Oh, okay."

Tricia giggled to herself. "We've been there almost ten times, and somehow she always ends up stepping in the water with her shoes on."

"Ah, man…"

We were quiet for a bit. And it was probably just because we were both focused on our work, but it gave me time to think.

She'd find out eventually… I'd tell her eventually, or she'd figure it out some other way. I was being weird about this.

"Tricia?"

Whoa. I did it.

"Hm?"

No stopping now. "There's… something I haven't told you."

Tricia looked up. I went on, "I… I told Megan already… a while ago. She sorta figured out that something didn't line up… And I should've told you… but… I time traveled."

She jumped a little. "You did?"

"Yeah. It – I know it's weird – I was working with this IP agent to stop Galactic from – oh, Galactic, Inc., like the electric company – we were trying to stop them from screwing with time and space and making a new world, and everything went badly, and we managed to travel back to September. From February."

"Ooh. Okay." Tricia leaned back. "That sounds really cool!"

"Oh. I guess so." I mean, aside from the darker details of Lucas being dead and me cutting everyone out of my life and Galactic winning… I did travel through time.

"Wait, so what's time travel like?"

"It… I saw a really bright light, and then I was in September."

"Ooh… How did you do it? Was it a pokemon?"

"No, the IP agent gave me a poketch app that would travel back one time.

"Ohh." Tricia nodded slowly. "Interesting. Are things better this time?"

I smiled. "I mean, it took me a while to adjust… but things are a lot better."

"Yay," she said, grinning.

We finished up our crafts around seven. I went home at nine. The moon was out already, and I breathed in the familiar air of my hometown.

Not holding secrets is a beautiful feeling.

* * *

 **Hopefully the mythology makes sense ugh. It's so hard to learn Sinnoh mythology when each piece of it is on a completely different page on Bulbapedia.  
**

 **But anyways! Hope you enjoyed, see you after my hell midterms (3 of them within 4 hours lit lit)~**


	39. Words Fail

**Yay midterms round two on Tuesday ;_;**

 **Enjoy~**

* * *

Friday, November 12th. I woke up to the news that Veilstone City had experienced a blackout all night. The blackout tally was up to two.

"Oye qué pasó?" I sang under my breath.

" _Pardon?_ " Definite asked, sounding quite confused.

I burst out laughing and couldn't stop.

I arrived at Megan's house at one, wearing a nice shirt and the now-togepi-patterned necklace that she'd given me. "Happy birthday," I said when she opened the door.

"Thanks," she said, hugging me. It felt like any other no-emotional-strings-attached hug, which made me glad. I handed her a box with a card on top. Megan took it, looking puzzled.

"'Happy 17th'?" she read from the card.

We realized it simultaneously.

"Arceus, you're 16 again–"

"You've already been through my 16th birthday–"

"Since I'm 17 I thought you'd be… Ah man, I'm _old_ ," I said.

I mean, I was originally a few months older than her? But a few months is very different from a whole year?

"You still act younger," Megan said nonchalantly.

"Hey…" I said, laughing.

We went in, her discreetly tucking the card under the box. Her party wasn't a huge gathering; just a get together at her house. Tricia would be there, some other friends from school were there.

I hadn't seen any of them in a few months, so they asked about my journey (haha "journey" sounds really serious but you know what I mean). I told them a bit, omitting a lot of details but including the fact that I'd faced Lucas in the recent tournament.

"I saw that! That was a nice battle," Jonathan said.

"Thanks!"

Jonathan and I were family friends. In high school, he and Lucas became best friends, which gave us a funny relationship.

"Have you been talking to Lucas?" I asked Jonathan when the conversation branched off.

"A little. He doesn't like to call that much," said Jonathan.

"Did he…" I lowered my voice. "Do you know if he's mad at me?"

"Is he?"

"I don't know. He says he isn't, but…"

Jonathan shook his head. "He didn't say anything. I can't see him being mad at you, though."

That was comforting, I guess.

I don't know why I hadn't thought of it sooner – or why I thought of it now – but the last time I saw Jonathan was before the incident at Lake Valor. I had no idea how he reacted to the news that his best friend had died.

I watched him laugh at something someone else was saying. He no longer had any idea his best friend had once died.

Conversations moved into board games. Tricia sat out the round of Catan because there were too many people. At some point I realized Megan had blocked the route I was going for.

"Ah man, when did you do that?" I sighed.

"Last turn?" she said.

"I missed it."

She grinned evilly. "It's your turn now."

"Oh!" I picked up the dice, feeling really out-of-it. I could've sworn my turn had just happened.

Megan inevitably won Catan. By then it was five (Catan takes sO LONG) and we ate dinner. Megan and I were having a normal conversation about the tournament next week, when across the table we heard, "Roark is literally _so hot_ though!"

The entire table heard and started laughing. "He is!" said Abby defensively.

"Okay, but he's got nothing on Volkner," said Leona.

"Volkner's almost thirty!"

"Roark is almost that age, what's your point?"

An "Ooh" went around the table, followed by another round of laughter. "Jonathan, do you have a fave?" asked Abby.

Jonathan looked confused. "Fave?"

"Like a fave girl gym leader."

"Oh." He turned a little pink. "Probably Cynthia."

There was a collective "Ahh." No one could argue against Cynthia.

You know… Cynthia was very attractive. Objectively. And she was Sinnoh's top trainer and leading expert on mythology, and seemed like a kind person on top of that. But I'd literally just met her, and no matter how I looked at it, I couldn't see myself being attracted… like that… to her. She was just this awesome trainer.

I smiled inwardly. I wasn't worried about falling for a girl anymore. Megan was my best friend, that's all, and we were closer than we'd ever been. And other girls didn't affect me, and April only freaked me out because I was overthinking things. I had nothing to worry about.

The evening wore into night. A few people started drifting home, escorted by their parents. It had been a while since my mom walked me home. To be fair, my pokemon did that for me now.

"Megan, you didn't open presents yet," someone pointed out.

So we did that. A few people gave her board games, a mug, earrings. Tricia's card was passed around the circle, and the piñata piplup she'd shaped from cardboard and duct tape was opened strategically so we could get to the candy without breaking it.

Megan opened my box. "Aww," she said, lifting out the togekiss I'd stitched together.

"It was going to be a togepi, but this was easier to sew," I confessed.

She laughed. "It's cute– oh…"

A thread had fallen from the base of the wing, revealing a line of stitches that had fallen off. "Why does this always happen?" I sighed.

"It's okay. You'll just have to come over again to fix it," Megan said.

I grinned. "Visit you again? Oh, darn."

Afterwards, Megan suggested Telephone Pictionary, so we ripped up scratch paper and sat on the living room floor. Jonathan, who was next to me, took ages to draw his pictures. At some point Megan and I were both waiting on him, and he had two stacks of paper in queue.

"Jonathannn," I sighed melodramatically.

"Sorryyyy," Jonathan said.

I leaned back until I hit the ground. It had been a really nice day. I was getting tired, but I'd enjoyed the party.

Megan, who had nothing to do, looked down at me. Her head tilted to the side, and she picked up the necklace sitting on my chest.

I suddenly couldn't breathe. My chest was tight; my head spun. The skin below my throat had never been so sensitive. Unaware, Megan examined the heart-shaped pendant and asked, "Did it change color?"

Words were failing me. I stuttered, "Yeah, it… it does that when it evolves… when it's used to evolve."

Megan placed the necklace back on my chest. My breathing returned to normal, but the tightness in my chest was replaced by a tightness in my stomach.

"It's pretty. It matches Hope."

"Yeah."

I sat up like nothing happened and took the papers Jonathan passed my way.

 _What the hell was that? Why did I react so strongly? I thought I was over this!_

The day wound down quickly; people were tired by now. When I left, Megan hugged me, and I was no longer sure what I felt when she did.

* * *

Exhausted from the party, I went to bed early. It didn't do much good; I wasn't able to sleep until past 11 anyways.

I couldn't stop thinking about Megan. I thought things were going well. I thought my worries were a fluke brought on by my stressing over Lucas. But now I had no idea if it was true or not. Which was possibly the worst part of it all – if I knew, I'd at least know what kind of problem I was facing, and I could come up with a solution. As things stood, I didn't even know if I liked her, and so there was nothing to solve until I knew if there was a problem.

I guess I drifted off, because the next thing I knew, I was running. And so was Lucas. We were running through a cave I recognized as part of Mount Coronet's cave system, pokemon attacks whizzing by us. Galactic was in pursuit.

Lucas made a short noise of pain and fell. I stopped in my tracks and turned back. In the dim light, I saw his shirt was spotted with blood.

I crouched down and lifted him up – he was even lighter than I expected – and started to run again, carrying him in my arms. _I have to get him somewhere safe_ , I kept thinking, looking for a place to hide. Attacks continued to shoot past us, and I knew we'd be doomed if we didn't get out of Galactic's sight soon.

Suddenly, Lucas shifted in my arms – I tried to catch him as he fell, but he landed on his feet.

"I'm _fine_ ," he said, turning and running on his own.

I started to run again, but hesitated – should I run the same way as him? Should I leave him alone? – and in that moment of hesitation an attack hit me in the back, knocking me forward–

I landed on my rear somehow, legs dangling over a cliff – I was somewhere else.

 _I looked out over the lake. This was it. This was the last stop on my list._

 _I shook my head. The stupid list. I started it for the sake of healing, and yet here I was, finished with my list of landmarks, no better than when I first arrived._

 _When we were still together, she told me about all the places I needed to visit if I ever went to Sinnoh. "The bridge in Canalave," she said. "The flower fields in Floaroma. The Foreign Cultures Building in Hearthome. And you definitely have to see Eterna Forest."_

 _She grew up in Jubilife, and sometimes her family went camping at Lake Verity. Of all the places on my list, this was the only one that surpassed my expectations. It was framed by wooded mountains, and in the starry night, it was peaceful._

 _It made me sad._

 _I didn't know if I'd continue in Sinnoh. There was no reason for me to be here anymore. But I didn't know where to go next._

 _I exhaled and rubbed my eyes. I hated feeling this useless. I'm a Pokemon trainer, for Mew's sake. I'm a trainer with a total of ten badges in two regions, and I reached the quarterfinals of a tournament in a foreign region and even won a tournament back in Johto, and here I was, immobilized by a heart that had been broken half a year ago._

 _And then when I saw her – it was so out of the blue, but I instantly knew she needed to see that I was fine without her, and I was so focused on it that I lost the battle. At least I kept it together as I shattered completely._

 _So here I was, sitting by a foreign lake in the middle of the night, trying to be happy, and I kept remembering I was in April's favorite place without her, and I'd never felt so thoroughly alone._

 _The tightly-packed ball of sadness in my chest started to leak. It diffused outward like ink in water, radiating into the rest of me. I buried my face in my hands when the tears began. No one was around._

 _…_ _do you ever really crash, or even make a sound?_

 _I just kept crying because I could, and because I hadn't, and because I needed to. And when I was done, I opened my eyes to a pink lake._

* * *

I woke up. The clock by my bed said it was one am.

I threw off the covers and got dressed quickly. My poketch pinged as I slipped my socks on. It was Looker.

I accepted the call as I strapped the poketch to my wrist. "Hey."

"Did you just get a weird dream?"

"Yeah. It's Thomas. I'm going to go meet him."

I gathered my pokeballs and let Coeur out as my backup, and headed out.

How did he hide all that? How did he manage to bottle everything up and keep it so thoroughly contained, even when April showed up out of the blue? Hiding your emotions seems like so much _work_.

The outskirts of Twinleaf are typically quiet; I could tell I was approaching the Pokemon Center when the nightlife started to increase. I passed the Center and kept walking in the direction of the lake route.

It was a fairly deserted road, particularly this late at night, and it wasn't hard to see the lone figure walking back. I withdrew Coeur so he wouldn't feel outnumbered.

We slowed and stopped ten feet from one another, neither of us saying anything. He looked exhausted beyond the lateness of the hour, his eyes swollen still.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," he said back.

I had no plan. There was a lot I wanted to say, but not when he was hurting like this. I'd thought he was honest with his feelings, but between hiding his reaction to seeing April and lying about how long ago they broke up, I knew there was a lot I hadn't seen.

"I'm here for you," I finally said.

His face crumpled just a little. I essentially walked into him – trying to comfort the bigger person in a hug was a challenge, but I placed my hands high on his back and took up as much space as I could. He relaxed into my arms.

There was a lot I wanted to say, but it could wait.

* * *

 **Wow wow the trio of soulmates is completed**

 **...lol I gotta go study chemE, see y'all 'round.  
**


	40. Stuck

***SPRINTS LIKE HELL INTO THE ROOM***

 **HI...HELLO...I SURVIVED MIDTERMS...AND FINALS...AND MY OWN OVERTHINKING...OK I'M HERE LET'S GO  
**

* * *

"Already?"

I nodded. "Last time, Galactic bombed Pastoria around Monday. I need to be there a little earlier to be safe. I'm sorry I can't stay."

"That's all right," said Megan. "Thanks for coming home."

Something in me softened, and then reflexively tightened. "Yeah, of course."

Megan and Thomas looked at each other. "It was nice meeting you," Megan said to him.

"You too," said Thomas. "I was wondering, could I get your number?"

I blinked. "Could you what?"

"Not like that! Not like… You know, just in case something happens. Emergency contact," he explained.

Megan laughed. "Sure."

"Hmph," I said grumpily. "I see you trust me a lot."

"Just in case," Thomas said, letting Megan type a number into his poketch. "I'll message you so you'll have mine too."

"Thank you for watching out for her," Megan said seriously.

"It's no problem," Thomas replied, equally seriously.

"All right, all right. Come on, chaperone, let's go. I need constant supervision at all times."

Megan laughed. "See you later!"

"See ya," I said, waving and turning away.

It had been an interesting morning. I woke up and couldn't get out of bed until ten, which was unusual for me. I figured it was because I'd been out late.

Thomas had recovered significantly from the night before, although I wasn't sure how to approach that subject. "So… where are you off to next?" he eventually asked.

"I'm going back to Pastoria. Need to get the badge still."

"Ah. Right."

He didn't say anything else. I remembered that he didn't know where to go from here.

"Want to come with me?"

Thomas considered it briefly before saying, "Yeah."

The other interesting thing that happened that morning was that Looker wanted to meet up with us both. I suggested Pastoria. I could teleport there, but Looker was coming to give Thomas a natu.

Looker appeared near Megan's house. He waved and walked over. "Hello, Evelyn. Thomas."

"Hello," Thomas said. They'd met a few times before – once in Jubilife, once in… also Jubilife.

"Let's go," I said, letting Def out of his pokeball.

"Wait a minute," Looker said, frowning. "We're all here already…"

" _Def, go, go, go–_ "

Def and I teleported to the Pastoria City Pokemon Center. Looker and Thomas appeared a few seconds later, Looker looking half bemused, half annoyed.

"Evelyn…" he said.

"Wow, how _convenient_ that we're meeting in Pastoria," I said.

"Evelyn, it's strictly against IP policy–"

"Look, it was either this or I wait for Thomas to fly back again," I said. "That or I ask Def to teleport cross-region a total of four times, and he takes several hours to recover from each trip. The IP doesn't need to know."

Looker shook his head. "I'll let it slide this time. Don't get used to it."

It was a casual meeting. The purpose was effectively to bring Thomas up to speed on what we'd learned from Cynthia about Lake Trio soulmates. We also had to explain a bit of basic Sinnoh mythology to him, because he'd never learned it.

"So, hold up," Thomas said, frowning. "It sounds like I'm stuck here."

"Well, not technically."

"But I can't just leave the region that's picked me to try and save it."

"…preferably, no," Looker agreed.

"Thomas–" I began.

He shook his head. "No, it's okay. It's made the decision easier."

"It won't be forever," Looker said. "Just until things are resolved."

* * *

The rest of Saturday was devoted to training and trying not to think about Megan… Um, let's talk about training. It mostly boiled down to agility training for both Prom and Hope. Def could teleport, so I wasn't terribly concerned about him.

I'd fleshed out my plans a little more. The idea was to set Hope against Gyarados (electric double advantage), Def against Quagsire (grass double advantage), and Prom against Floatzel. I just needed Hope to dodge, since shockwave would hit no matter what and Gyarados was a heavy hitter. Prom, meanwhile, would be left against his evolved form. This could go either extremely well or extremely poorly, depending on training. Ultimately, Prom needed to be faster than the floatzel.

We trained in the marsh until five, at which point we headed back to Pastoria. Thomas was sticking around, largely because I'd been attacked last time I was in Pastoria. Thanks, chaperone.

…well, okay. I know the other reason he stuck around.

Sunday was… odd. I think Thomas was in the showers when I woke up and found myself unable to move. Or, more accurately, found myself fully awake and mobile but… still unable to move. That's not really clear. I couldn't move, and it had nothing to do with sleep paralysis. Is that better? I don't know.

I just lay in bed staring at the bunk above me, knowing I should get up but unable to do so. There was a line stuck in my head – a melody, a song lyric – but I couldn't make out the words or identify the song.

Thomas came back in. "Morning," he said.

"Morning," I mumbled.

His face came into view. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

He moved about the room, putting away his toiletries, folding the clothes he'd washed.

"Thomas?" I said a few minutes later.

"Hm?"

"I'm stuck."

"You're what?"

"I'm stuck. I can't move."

His concerned face came back into view. "Do you need a doctor?"

"I don't… think so?"

He reached out a hand. I took it, and he pulled me up. I was still unable to move, but now sitting upright.

"You seem fine," he said.

"No, yeah," I said. "I can move. I just… can't move."

Thomas looked at me for a minute, then went over to my bag. He tossed a pokeball, releasing Courage on my lap.

"Oops, I meant to let out Hope… Wait, she's too big now…"

Coeur nudged my arm. My hand moved up to her face, so she could nuzzle up against it. "Vee," she purred.

"Hey, Coeur," I said, stroking her fur.

I guess all I needed was an eevee in my lap? Because I petted her for maybe ten minutes, and when she got up to stretch, I did too.

We did some lighter training that day, since I didn't want to wear them out before the gym battle. They seemed to be in good shape anyways.

* * *

Monday, gym battle day.

It was like déjà vu, except I knew that this had happened 24 hours ago, and this time I knew the song lyric circling my head.

"Tell me, what am I fighting for?" I sang under my breath.

Like yesterday, Thomas came back in to find me staring at the top bunk. "This again? Should I let out Courage?"

"No."

A hand reached out above me. I didn't move to take it. "Come on," he said. "Gym battle today."

 _I'm not feeling it_ , I thought, closing my eyes. _I'm not in the mood. I don't want to._

Eventually he took his hand back. "Well… Let me know if you need anything," he said, sounding like he didn't know what to do.

I didn't either. I didn't like this. There was a weight in my chest that came from nowhere in particular – I mean, it could have been vaguely Megan-related? Lucas-related? – that made everything in me lack the desire to move.

I drifted back to sleep. When I woke up it was two in the afternoon, and instead of feeling refreshed, I felt sweaty and gross from sleeping too much. And still I didn't want to move.

Thomas walked in half an hour later (I didn't move within this half hour). "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I dunno."

"Have you ever had depression?"

"No."

"Does depression… is it a PMS side effect?"

I turned my head to glare at him. "Why are you so focused on PMS? I've never gotten depression before, much less from PMS. And I'm not on my period."

"I get that you're proving a point, but you always say you're not on your period and it's a little fishy."

"I'm really not…"

I frowned. When was the last time I'd _gotten_ my period?

"Arceus," I said, finally sitting up in bed. "I figured it was irregular still, but… I haven't gotten it since… February?"

 _Three months, but more importantly, that's before I traveled in time._

As this was sinking in, a thunderous roll of sound shook the room. "Oh no," I said, propelling myself out of bed too fast. I felt part of me remain in the bed as I dragged myself out.

"What was that?" Thomas asked.

"Close your eyes."

"Wh–"

"Look away. I need to change _now_ ," I said, yanking clean clothes from my bag.

He turned away. I shoved on a shirt and shorts. "What's happening?" he asked again.

"Galactic tested their bomb. Great Marsh. It's literally the same day as last time. We need to go."

We grabbed our pokeballs and ran. The Pokemon Center is about halfway between the gym and the marsh, so we weren't far. Thomas and I sprinted – well, I sprinted. He lost steam quickly – towards the marsh.

I skidded to a halt at the door to the visitors' center, the only way into the marsh by foot. The door burst open, and a man almost crashed into me.

"Sorry," heaved the disheveled Galactic grunt.

Then he realized who I was. He evaded my grab at him and bolted past.

"Get back here," I shouted, pursuing him.

I released Promise and Faith. He kept running, but Prom raced around in front of him, blocking his path. The grunt released a glameow and zubat.

I smirked. Easy.

I kept an eye on the grunt as we battled, in case he meant to run. But we made short work of his pokemon.

" _Prom, block his route,_ " I said quickly through Def.

Prom stationed himself between the grunt and the road to Lake Valor. Faith took the other side.

"So," I said, approaching the man. He glanced around nervously, looking for an escape. "I see you've tested the bomb. How are other things going? What other progress has Galactic made?"

"I don't… I don't know…" He looked quite frightened. I wasn't going to hurt him, but he didn't need to know that.

"Well, okay, let's be specific. The Red Chain? Tell me about your progress there."

"I don't know about the Red Chain!"

I gave him a tired look. "Look. I might just let you go if you give me something useful. Otherwise, I imagine you'll be locked up for a while."

The grunt looked around shiftily. "I don't know anything. I'm just a grunt."

"You _were_ trusted with a mission like this, though," I said.

"Yeah, but…"

"Is there anything you do know?" I asked. "Where is Galactic creating the Red Chain? How are you capturing the Lake Trio? Do you know where the Spear Key is?"

"Spear Key?"

 _Fuck._

A humming sound approached from above. Looking up, I found a group of Galactic grunts on hoverscooters, headed by Mars.

"Oh," she said. "You. I _would_ stay and fight... but our objective has already been achieved. Golbat, supersonic!"

She released a pokemon. Prom knocked the golbat out of the air before anything happened, but it was enough time for one grunt to swoop down and grab the grunt on the ground. The group zoomed off.

I groaned. So much for that.

Trying not to think about the information _Galactic_ had gotten from _me_ (if the grunt figured it out and told them), I called Looker. "Where are you? We've had an explosion."

"I know. I'm in the marsh. Come join us."

I wondered who "us" meant for a second, before realizing Thomas was nowhere to be found.

Prom and Faith and I headed back into the marsh. When I realized what Looker and Thomas were doing, I started to run.

"Everyone out!" I said, throwing the other four pokeballs. "Spread out and get everyone to the visitor center!"

There were a few tourists – they'd already been taken care of, since the boardwalk didn't go too far into the marsh – but more importantly, the marsh pokemon were in trouble. We spent the next few hours combing the marsh for injured, displaced, and aggravated pokemon. There weren't too many of the latter, although Prom had to subdue a croagunk before he poison-jabbed me in the stomach.

Eventually all the hurt pokemon we could find had been carted off to the Pokemon Center. Exhausted and muddy, we (Thomas, Looker, my pokemon and I) returned to the Center to clean up.

I returned to the room with three cups of hot cocoa. "Thought this was appropriate," I said, handing one to Looker. Thomas was still in the shower.

"Oh. Thanks," he said, taking a sip.

I sat on the bed across from him. "Looker?"

"Yes?"

"I… might have told Galactic something they didn't know."

"Hm?"

I told him about my failed interrogation, and about the Spear Key. Looker didn't seem fazed.

"They opened Spear Pillar last time," he said. "They must have figured it out independently of you."

"Oh. Guess so." That made me feel better. I sipped my drink.

"How goes the gym battling?" Looker asked.

I grimaced. "The plan was to battle Crasher Wake today," I said. "It… I wasn't feeling well, and then the bomb test happened…"

Looker tilted his head to the side. "You're unwell?"

"More so earlier. Yesterday too."

"Are you still?"

"A bit," I admitted. "When the bomb test happened, I just had to ignore it. It's been there all day still."

Looker nodded thoughtfully. "Something is telling me that Crasher Wake may have answers for you."

"Crasher Wake?"

"The gym leader, yes?"

"Yeah, I just… I wouldn't expect him to have answers…?"

"It might not be answers about this," he said. "Just some sort of answer. Maybe something else. I've just got the same sense about this that I had about Cynthia and her grandmother."

"Hm. All right. I'll ask him about… something."

* * *

 **Ayyyyy 40 chapters if you count the prologue as a chapter which I don't but fanfic dot net makes me anyways so ayyy 40 chapters I guess  
**

 **Here's where I'm at rn: A Prom in Paris is super close to the end, and I'm either going to be alternating publishing or get lots of that out all at once. I've also had like five story ideas combined into one mess over the last few weeks, and I'm trying to comb through that because I really like where it could go? Idk. This isn't to say I'm losing interest in Chance. Far from it.**

 **In case I miss the anniversary, we're at two years of Chance! Go team!  
**


	41. Medical

***tiptoes in after 3 months***

 **Hey I'm back. I'll explain later. Here's the chapter:**

* * *

"This will be a three-on-three battle between the challenger, Evelyn Meyers of Twinleaf Town, and the gym leader, Crasher Wake! Substitutions will be permitted between rounds. The match will be over when all three pokemon on one side are unable to battle. Battlers, are you ready?"

In the corner of my vision, I saw Thomas take his seat in the spectator stands. "Ready," I said.

"Sure am!" piped Crasher Wake, the most enthusiastic man in the Sinnoh League (Flint being a close second).

"Battle, begin!"

"Hope, it's yours!"

"Gyarados, I choose you!"

Full disclosure: I still wasn't feeling it. I barely managed to force myself out of bed that morning, meaning I was only marginally better than I'd been before. This was going to be a rough battle.

"Start it off with dragon rage!"

" _Hope_ ," I said through Definite, " _Dodge and use shockwave._ "

Hope swooped around the bright purple beam of dragon energy and let out a jolt of electricity. Wake's gyarados hissed as it hit him.

"Hmm… Gyarados, use swagger!"

 _Can Hope dodge that?_

" _Dodge?_ "

Hope kept swooping around, blithely oblivious to the gyarados's display of sheer arrogance. Which, frankly, is all that the move swagger is.

" _Uh… shockwave. Just keep using shockwave and dodging_."

…I mean, that's all it came down to. It was a short round… Well, not really, but it was a one-sided round. Hope's shockwave wasn't especially strong, but between the type advantage and the fact that none of Gyarados's moves hit, we had a clear upper hand.

"Gyarados is unable to battle! The round goes to the challenger!"

" _Nice one, Hope._ "

"Prrrri~" I heard from above. I smiled and pulled her back into her pokeball.

"Not bad, not bad… Let's see how you do against my quagsire!" crowed Wake.

" _Def, your go_." Def landed on one of the pool's floating platforms.

"Quagsire, use surf!"

The entire pool moved. A massive wave of water traveled toward Def. " _Teleport into the air_ ," I said to him. " _Magical leaf._ "

Def followed my directions and ended up above the wave. He sent down a flurry of leaves that I think (I couldn't see) cut into the quagsire wallowing in the water. He started to fall, and I realized the platforms had been wiped out by the surf.

" _Um… Keep teleporting into the air._ "

As Def was about to hit the water, he vanished and reappeared thirty feet up. He did this a few more times. This was the day I learned that while teleportation alters your position, it does not reduce your velocity.

"Def!" I shouted out loud when he fell too fast to stop himself from plunging into the pool.

"Water pulse!" called Crasher Wake.

" _Get out of the water!_ "

Maybe Crasher Wake's quagsire was atypically fast. More likely he was just ready for this. By the time Def made it into the air, sopping wet, there was already an orb of water on its way to him.

It knocked him back into the water. We were floundering. I was floundering. " _Def… um… magical leaf._ "

"Quagsire, use surf!"

I'd completely forgotten that water made leaves useless. It was a lump of psychic plant pulp versus an entire pool of water crashing down. You can guess what happened.

"Kirlia is unable to battle! The round goes to the gym leader!"

"Nicely done, Quagsire!"

" _Sorry about that, Def_ ," I said, recalling him from the water. I exhaled. Okay. Hope could handle this. "Hope, you're up!" I called, letting her out. She just needed to dodge. And she was flying, and Quagsire was ground. And she had magical leaf. We could do this.

"All right, let's go with mud bomb!"

" _Dodge and use magical leaf!_ "

Hope dodged but didn't attack. " _Hope, magical leaf! You can do it!_ "

"Mud bomb again!"

She swerved around the bubble of mud, but still didn't attack. " _Hope, are you all right?_ " I asked her telepathically except mother of Arceus my telepathic pokemon had been knocked out.

"Mud shot, Quagsire!"

It skimmed her wing, but freaked her out enough that she stopped her normal erratic flight pattern. "Magical leaf!" I shouted quickly.

"Water pulse!"

Hope was still flapping, trying to regain her position in the sky, when the water pulse hit her. She tumbled from the sky, flopping into the water with a big splash.

"Hope!" I looked around for a solution. Quagsire in the water. Hope in the water too. Shockwa– no, that would hurt her more than him. There was a bubble swelling in my chest, like a headache rising but in the wrong place. Focus, dammit.

"Magical leaf!"

This one was uninhibited by waves. Quagsire barely flinched at the attack, retaliating with a mud shot that pushed Hope underwater. When she surfaced, she was unconscious.

"Togekiss is unable to battle! The round goes to the gym leader!"

"Thanks, Hope," I said, pulling her back.

Arceus, this was going _so_ badly. My hand faltered on its way to Promise's pokeball.

I was too tired for this shit.

What if I just forfeited now? Quit while I was ahead?

I knew I couldn't.

I forced myself to pull out my last pokeball.

"Promise!"

* * *

"Floatzel is unable to battle! The match goes to Evelyn of Twinleaf Town!"

I blinked a few times. What?

The pool was still sloshing angrily from the match. Prom climbed out of the pool and came up to me.

"What's going on?" I said out loud, starting to freak out a little. "Prom, go back, you've got a battle…?"

Prom looked puzzled. "Bui?"

"What happened?" I breathed. "Prom, what happened? Def–" No, Def hadn't seen that. "Did… How? Did you fight? You couldn't have fought already?"

"Everything all right?" Wake had walked around the pool in this time.

"I… Did we win?"

He chuckled. "Sure did. That's one fast buizel you've got there."

"What's going on?" I jumped; Thomas had come up from behind, a concerned frown on his face.

"I don't… remember anything? I don't remember Promise's battle."

The grin slid off Wake's face. This was by far the most somber I'd ever seen him. "Hm. One more thing to check up on, then."

"One more?"

"The first being your buizel."

* * *

Thomas stayed with me while Wake brought Promise in for examination. "Do you remember Prom's battle?" I asked Thomas.

"Yeah. Prom did well."

"Did I do anything?"

"I thought you did. It's always hard to tell, with you communicating things telepathically now," he joked.

"Thomas, Def was unconscious. That's the whole reason I fucked up Hope's battle."

He looked taken aback. "I didn't realize."

"So Prom did okay?"

"Prom was great! He and the floatzel were evenly matched in both speed and strength, but he sort of… moved in the right ways? He knew how to deal with it."

"Sounds like Prom." I wasn't sure I could've commanded Prom at all. He might've just been too fast.

"So you don't remember it at all?"

"No. I just… I remember sending him out, and then the battle being over, but that's it."

"Has anything like this happened before?"

"I don't… wait… maybe. I think I was teleporting somewhere…" I remembered. "Yeah, I was teleporting to Eterna, and Looker said it took a long time, but it was only a few seconds for me."

"Was it a long time for Def too?"

"Def didn't teleport me there… Although I can still ask if he noticed."

I stared at the tile floor. In a minute I felt Thomas pat my shoulder. "Don't worry too much. You'll make it worse."

I laughed dryly. "Well, now I'm not worried," I said. "Worked like a charm. All better."

Thomas shook his head.

Wake returned to the waiting room, Promise at his feet. "Your buizel is healthy, for the most part," Wake said.

Prom jumped onto my lap; I scratched his head. Wake continued, "The reason I was concerned is because he has yet to evolve. He's skilled in battle, he's not especially young… frankly, he should have evolved a while ago."

I glanced at my buizel, who'd curled up happily on my leg. "Any idea why he hasn't?"

"There's a few things it could be." He took a seat diagonal from us. "Sometimes a pokemon doesn't want to evolve, so they find a way to dodge evolution every time it rolls around. You'll usually have seen your pokemon glow from time to time, if this is the case."

"I haven't seen that at all."

"Didn't think so. Another possibility is that he's gotten a piece of an everstone lodged in him somehow. We did a quick scan for everstone radiation, and your buizel came up clean."

I nodded. "Okay. What else?"

"A third inhibitor of evolution is trauma. PTSD in pokemon can sometimes stunt evolution. Has anything happened to him while he's been with you?"

"Not… not that I can think of?" There'd been a few mishaps, but I didn't think anything extreme had happened to Promise directly.

"Okay. Where did you first find that buizel?"

"Around the Valley Windworks…"

"So you haven't known him for his whole life."

"No. He was living there for at least a few years prior," I said, thinking of the little girl from Floaroma who'd grown up with him.

"Something may've happened in that time, then."

I looked down at Prom, who was asleep on… Pretending to sleep. There was an anxious crease in his forehead that gave him away.

"The doctor here found damage to your buizel's air sac inflator, which backs up that theory. You might have noticed in battle, your buizel wasn't really floating so much as treading water constantly."

"I–"

"Oh, that's right!" Wake slapped his forehead comically. "We needed to check up on you, too! Right this way."

"Wait – my buizel…?"

"…Ah. There's not much we can do," said Wake. "At least, not without a lot of time. I'd send a human with PTSD to therapy, cause I'm no expert. But there aren't counselors for pokemon, even though there should be. And getting proper healthcare to trainers and trainer pokemon is always an issue, since they travel all over the place." Wake gave a smile, but there was something sad behind it. "Anyways! A rant for another time. At any rate, there's a limit to what we know about your buizel. In cases of trauma, sometimes the pokemon will recover enough to be able to evolve; sometimes not. Your buizel may evolve eventually."

I still had concerns, but they had more to do with Promise's past and less to do with his evolution. "I'll look out for him."

"All right. If you like, you can find a professional elsewhere to get help. It's a system we gotta fix. As for you…"

Thomas stayed behind with Prom (who, surprise, was awake) while I went in. A nurse took my vitals and sat me in an examination room.

"Take a second to fill these out," said the nurse, handing me a clipboard.

I scanned what looked like a questionnaire. "What's this for?"

"Just some standard adolescent health tests. The doctor will be here in a few minutes." The nurse closed the door behind her.

With a shrug, I set out filling in the questionnaire. It was pretty clearly a mental health screening. Ranking statements on a scale from "I never do this shit" to "This is basically part of my daily routine."

And um

"Little interest or pleasure in doing things"

"Feeling tired or having little energy"

"Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless"

Some of the items were inapplicable. Others were difficult to determine just because of trainer life – have I had a low appetite, or have I gotten used to eating less on the road? When is the last time I needed to concentrate on something like reading? But the majority of the statements fell into the "Sometimes this shit happens" range.

Someone knocked on the door. A woman with pink hair poked her head inside. "Hello. You must be Evelyn."

"Yeah."

She came in and shut the door behind her. "I hear you experienced some memory loss just recently?"

"Yeah. I think."

"Okay. Did you finish with the form?"

"Oh, yeah." I handed her the clipboard. She glanced at it.

"Interesting. Okay."

"Wait, so…? What does it mean?" I asked desperately.

"It does look like you're a bit depressed. I can refer you to…"

My head was spinning. Depression. That was something that happened to other people, not me. Not me… And especially if I was Azelf's soulmate? How did that happen, if depression meant I lacked the will to get out of bed or fight a battle? How was I supposed to help the Being of Willpower himself? And _depression?_

"…would you like to do?"

Uh. Referrals. "I… I'm a trainer. I can't stay."

The doctor nodded. "Okay… I can also set you up with an online counselor."

I thought about it. "I… I mean, I've only had problems sporadically? Most of the time I'm fine. It's inconsistent. It's just been the last week or so."

"Do you have a strong support network?"

"I'd say so."

The doctor pulled a card out of her coat pocket and handed it to me. "I won't push you to take therapy, but it's available to you if you need it. You can call or send a message."

"Okay."

I guess in retrospect… I didn't _want_ to need it. I figured whatever I had was probably not bad enough to warrant therapy. I figured I could go to Megan and Thomas and maybe even Looker for help, anyways. I didn't think I had time for formal therapy, either.

Whatever the reason really was, I didn't opt in. That's all.

* * *

 **So here's why the update took so long:  
**

 **Winter quarter was complete shit in so many ways. My social and romantic lives went poorly, which made the on-and-off depression I get a lot worse (usually it's PMS related, but this quarter the timing was completely unrelated to my cycle), which made my grades drop, which made everything worse. I was doubting who I was and who my friends are left and right. And writing was affected by my depression-induced disinterest in everything. So I haven't written much at all this quarter. I felt super rusty writing this chapter.**

 **Spring break has been good for me – I've been around people I've known for years, and who laugh at my jokes, and who know me best because they've shaped who I've become. It's helped me remember who I am. I made up with a friend I was mad at for too long. And overall it's been a relief not to worry about schoolwork and working to stay friends with people and trying to get over a boy I should've been over for *checks calendar* going on three months now.**

 **Anyways. The next two weeks will be busy af, but after that, I think things will calm down. I do need to finish up my ML story. One thing I can promise you is that I'm never going to give up on Chance.**


End file.
